Fidget, Batrishan Prince Of Darkness
by Emersonian
Summary: The tale of Fidget the Bat, the recurring Batrishan from my OUAT fanfic. Learn his history, how it affected those of others and life itself as he became the infamous Batrishan Prince of Darkness and the monster everybody knows him as. Soundtrack song: EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD, by Lorde.
1. Prologue

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Prologue: A story told to a descendant

 _About 300 years after the events in Storybrooke_

The worlds were shattering. It was occurring everywhere, in every world, and in every realm that were known to all kinds. The feuds within individuals or nature had finally led to this. Now, the Nine Norse Worlds were falling apart. Neverland was getting its magic drained. The yellow brick road of Oz was losing its bricks as they detached themselves from the ground and went to join the atmosphere. Everywhere was a sign of apocalypse: destroyed buildings, animal corpses, plants slowly withering one by one, and realms losing their magic, their life force. And all this time, people were either scavenging for survival or fighting against each other for territory, conquest of resources, etc. In other words, they kept doing the same things that led them to this universal apocalyptic inferno.

The Enchanted Forest was barely spared: patches of land were stripped away from gravity and were floating in midair. Many crop fields were burned and so were towns and villages thanks to their warring habitants. Aside from the royal castles and nobility domains, the only accesses for refugees, and the temples or shrines dedicated to saints or gods, nothing was intact from destruction. The more things were destroyed, the more you could see outer space.

On the winter solstice of this cursed future, two figures where flying through the fields of floating mountains and remains of civilization. They appeared to be Batrishans, a species of humanoid bats that miraculously survived their rumored extinction, due to their bat ears, wings, and claws, but they weren't quite that. They had mixed bloods in their veins, causing their Batrishan blood heredity to slowly disappear by each generation.

"It's horrible out here, Papa," the smallest of them said. His skin was a somewhat like gray like his father's and their ancestor's golden eyes with red irises were a characteristic that they both shared with their paternal predecessors. However, their facial features and light hair mostly came from any human predecessor they had.

"I know, Zadnji," his Papa said, calling his son by the native Batrishan name that was given to him at his birth besides the Christian name that his human mother gave him: Zachary. They flew close to one another, holding hands, as they flew towards a remaining patch of land on the non-floating grounds of the Enchanted Forest. The section was a large range of dark mountains with endless ravines, death gray clouds, and thorned trees. A person who didn't know Zadnji and his father, Vjero, would have laughed at them for going at a hellish place that the Batrishans, peace-loving and altruistic as they once were, had called sanctuary for more than 3 centuries now.

Vjero and Zadnji flew to the highest and darkest mountain of them all, where it seemed like no light ever came to drop even the weakest ray of sunshine. They finally saw a rocky platform with a carved staircase that led to what appeared to be a shrine. The Batrishans landed and began climbing all the way up without even resting.

"Papa, why do our people call this a sanctuary?" Zadnji asked, clinging on to Vjero's arm, worried about the possible dangers that this hostile place represented.

"Because…this is were our ancestor's shrine is. This is where he was finally buried after living more than 3 centuries." He motioned his hand to the shrine that finally appeared before them. It was the most gothic looking shrine that Zadnji had ever seen. The marble stones were as dark as hell; the columns were twisted and ebony-colored like wild black mambas; the glass windows were shaped and designed like bat wings. The mammoth-sized door, dark as the plague itself, greeted them. Zadnji noticed that a dome made of silver crowned the shrine.

"Papa, since when do shrines have such shiny, silver domes like this?" The young Batrishan pointed at the dome.

Vjero shook his head. "They never did. Humans feared that our ancestor's ghost would haunt them as much as he terrorized them when he was still alive. They thought that, due to his…conditions, silver would keep him locked in the shrine…forever."

The door automatically opened when Vjero and his son headed towards it. The inside was no different than the outside, except that rows of Batrishan statues holding torches formed a pathway in front of them. The torches lit up one by one, illuminating a passage for them. The visitors walked through the trail of fire like ghosts going to the afterlife.

"Was our ancestor as bad as the stories claimed him to be?" Zadnji asked, seeing his father sigh in disappointment.

"I wish I could wait until you were older to tell you this, Zadnji," Vjero said as they approached what appeared to be a platform. "But with everything that is occurring around us, it is best if I tell you our ancestor's story."

They approached the altar. A large, magnificent mural painting of Ashiva, the Batrishans' eternal god of balance, welcomed them with its artistic glory. But Vjero wasn't looking at the mural painting of the father of all Batrishans. Instead, he was looking at a statue that was separating the mural painting from him and his son.

"Our ancestor had his times when he was a good and great man. But throughout most of his life, he had followed darkness…darkness that consumed him. Centuries of making pacts with immortals, serving notorious villains…all for the sake of getting the revenge that he never ended up getting…made him the monster most people knew him as. Zadnji, listen carefully to the tale I'm going to tell you…of the Batrishan Prince of Darkness."

Zadnji looked one last time at the statue before listening to his father's tale. The statued Batrishan was in a both predatory and warrior position. His wings almost appeared as if it were turning into a swarm of vampire bats. Zadnji was in a state of disbelief when he saw how the statue looked exactly like him and his father…

Except for his right, notched ear, his angry eyes, and his right leg replaced with a peg leg.

The bottom foundation of the statue said the following words:

 _THE BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS HE WAS_

 _FOR MORE THAN CENTURIES HE LIVED AT,_

 _HERE LIES THE MONSTER HE ONCE WAS,_

 _KING FIZTGERALD DENADA CORTÉS, A.K.A FIDGET THE BAT._


	2. The rape that led to the monster's birth

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The rape that led to the monster's birth

 _Back in 1757, in the Enchanted Forest, when the Original Batrishan Sanctuary still existed_

The Batrishan Sanctuary. Home to all Batrishans throughout history. It is where their civilization flourished over the course of life. The sources of all the worlds' science and arts came from this glorious city made of Greco-Roman houses and temples, Arabian-like street markets, green plazas with statues depicting the most infamous, wisest, or heroic Batrishans these people ever knew, and so much more. Even within the most crowded neighborhoods, people could have a glance of the seaside or the former royal palace from their windows. A city worthy of any gods was the original Batrishan Sanctuary.

Towering everything in the entire city was the former Royal Palace. Until the last direct heir to the throne abdicated in order to see the world, leaving the last king to die of illness with nobody to take over the throne during the Antiquity, the palace was where the Batrishan priests now lived, gathered, and led their people. Although some of the Batrishan civilians doubted some of the priests' sense of leadership, the sanctuary's peace remained stainless.

In the section of the palace where the priestesses' quarters were located, one of the priestesses was in her room. This young Batrishan priestess, who would have been no older than a 25-year-old human woman, was Svjetla, a long distant descendant of Ashiva, the four-armed god of balance that the Batrishans venerated, and also a distant cousin of the last heir to the Batrishan throne. In other words, if anyone would have considered the notion back then, Svjetla should have been the ruling queen of the Batrishans.

Svjetla was born from a Batrishan priest and a common tapestry merchant, Briga. As the youngest child of a family with six children, the odds of her becoming either a priestess like her father or a tapestry merchant like her mother were as even as those of her elder siblings. She got lucky when, during her medallion ceremony (when her social status' selected medallion and value was given to her my Ashiva at birth), she was given a medium-gold medallion. In other words, while all her other siblings got bright emerald medallions for tapestry merchants, Svjetla got one of the medallions meant for a Batrishan priest or priestess.

Svjetla was sitting on a stool in her room, working in front of a large tapestry loom, when she heard a knock on the door. Her golden eyes looked in curiosity as she went to open the door, revealing Gandeje, her fiancé and fellow Batrishan priest. A smile appeared on her face as she hugged her beloved Batrishan.

"Gandeje, my love!" Svjetla said warmly. "I wasn't expecting you. What may I help you with?"

"What, I can't give a little visit to the love of my life?" Gandeje asked teasingly. He gave a quick kiss to the Batrishan priestess before noticing the tapestry she was working on. "I see you are working on a new tapestry. What is it for?"

At the mention of the tapestry, Svjetla gently pulled herself away from Gandeje in disappointment. "Oh…that. I wish you didn't have to see that. I was planning to make this as a wedding gift…"

"But Svjetla, our wedding is only four months from now!" Gandeje said. "Besides, the best wedding gift I could ever ask for was sharing my love with you."

"Oh, Gandeje…" Svjetla sighed as she embraced her beloved in his arms.

"I'm sure though that this tapestry would be great if we add it to our future home once we move to the matrimonial quarters after our marriage," Gandeje said. "What do you think?"

"I think I'm going to finish it. For you, my love. Now get out of my room! I want the depiction of my gift to be a surprise!" She scolded playfully, gently pushing Gandeje towards the door and into the hallway.

"Alright, Svjetla. I'll go get you for the dinner feast in two hours or so." Gandeje smiled at the young priestess before walking down the hallway, leaving Svjetla to giddily close the wooden door behind her and jump in happiness towards the tapestry she was working on.

About one hour and a half had passed. The sun had already set and the dark night sky was lit by close to six hundred and sixty stars. Svjetla was close to finishing her tapestry, which showed her and Gandeje when they first met. Happy thoughts of the future filled her mind. If only her wedding didn't have to be until four months from now, she'd be the happiest Batrishan priestess in the whole world.

"Oh, Ashiva," she said to herself out loud. "How I wish that I can bless Gandeje with a child as great as him once were married! We'd be so happy!"

Unfortunately, Svjetla learned the hard way that she should have never mentioned the words 'I WISH'. A sudden breeze suddenly filled the room despite the fact that the windows were closed. Speaking of the latters, the sounds of them shaking ferociously caused Svjetla to jump of her stool, frightened. The windows broke open, with shattered glass filling the air, as a dark shadow loomed over a horrified Svjetla.

" **Believe me, Svjetla Briga-Posten Ashiva, you will get that child you wished for** ," the dark shadow said darkly as it towered by the second above Svjetla. " **But it won't belong to your betrothed. And he'll be beyond powerful than the average member of your miserable people**."

 _Time skip_

" _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**_

When Gandeje and the other Batrishan priests heard a shrill scream coming from the ladies' quarters, they left the dining hall in a rush to the only room that was occupied by then: Svjetla's room.

The sight was nightmarish when they broke into the room: the windows were broken and their glass shards were spread throughout the entire floor. The tapestry loom was broken and the tapestry Svjetla had been working on for a long time was ripped into pieces. But it was the sight of Svjetla that horrified her fellow priest and priestesses the most: she was lying with her back on the bed full of torn sheets. The young Batrishan looked as if she had seen specters assaulting her all at once. The bottom half of her dress had been ripped, revealing a mass of blood where her flower of virginity once remained. And as a faint detail, there was a small, new bump on Svjetla's stomach.

Rape. The worst sacrilege that could happen to a Batrishan, especially a priestess who hasn't been married yet.

When Gandeje carried her down to the infirmary, the healers put a lot of effort to heal Svjetla in the hopes that she could be back in good shape. Gandeje was furious: someone had dared to force onto his fiancée while he wasn't there. He regretted leaving her alone in her room.

"She got deflowered by a god. The Evil One, to be exact," one of the healers told Gandeje, a few other priests, and Svjetla's family once they were alerted of the crime.

"Svjetla must have accidently made a wish while she was alone. The Evil One only appears when mortals make wishes," Briga said, feeling despair for her daughter. She already wasn't happy that Svjetla wanted to marry Gandeje (Briga didn't like him), but the fact that a god aggressed her was much worse. "But why would the Evil One rape her?"

"Most likely because he left her a memento," the healer said.

"What do you mean?" Gandeje asked, confused.

"Priest Gandeje, the Evil One impregnated Priestess Svjetla. The child will be born in about 4 months according to demigod standards. Although this is the first Batrishan demigod in history, we can't rejoice. Since his father is the powerful Evil One, the chances of the child being a monster like the Evil One are high."

"If the infant is meant to be a monster, than we'll dispose of him. We can't afford to have a monster among us," Gandeje said angrily as the other priests and priestesses agreed.

The healer was right at the possibility of the demigod being dangerous. Four months later, Svjetla gave birth to a male Batrishan who was unusually dark toned than any of the other Batrishans. The baby didn't even cry when pulled out of its mother's womb and only gave one last look at the priestess who gave him life with its large, golden eyes with small red irises as it was taken by one of the healers into the nursery. It probably didn't even hear its mother give away her last breath of life before dying in the arms of her chagrined fiancé. It probably didn't noticed, while it was sleeping in one of the nursery cribs, that the god Ashiva gave it the rarest medallion that were meant for the rarest of the progeny of Batrishan priests. It probably forgot his grandmother Briga smuggling him out of the nursery before Gandeje and the other priests came with holy weapons and poisons in order to kill him.


	3. Escape, Genocide, and Baby Theft

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The escape that caused a genocide and baby theft

Briga cuddled the silent baby in her arms while she and the rest of her family were gathered in the small dining room in her house located in the suburbs of the Batrishan Sanctuary. Although she had married a late Batrishan Priest, meaning Posten was dead from cancer, she refused to leave behind the house where she grew up and continued her family's tapestry merchant trade. But things were different now that she rescued her grandson from the death-seeking priests.

"Briga, this is insane," her sister Sestra said. "The priests will send the soldiers to look everywhere in the city until they find him."

"I don't care," Briga said flatly. "He's my daughter's son. Family is important in Batrishan society."

"Plus, infanticide is the worst unholy crime after rape," Voljeti added. He was Svjetla's older brother by two years, thus making him the youngest child among Briga's children now. He gently caressed his nephew's cheek, who didn't budge. "Didn't Ashiva disintegrate one Batrishan with lightning when he killed five children back in the 13th century."

"Voljeti makes a point there," Sestra's husband Fratar nodded. "Whether it's us or the priests who kill Svjetla's son, we'll be eternally punished by our god Ashiva." Everyone in the room looked in contempt: if there was one thing worse than being found guilty and executed by the Batrishan priests, it would be being punished by Ashiva himself.

"Then we'll leave the city," Briga determined as she stood up, still holding the baby in her arms. "We wouldn't be the first Batrishans to leave the Sanctuary in order to settle in the human world. I have a secret tunnel underneath my basement that leads straight out of the Sanctuary's borders."

"When do we leave?" Sestra asked.

"As soon as we packed all the provisions."

 _Four days later_

"What do you mean, the Evil One destroyed the Batrishan Sanctuary?" Briga asked in horror. Two days ago, they had managed to sneak out of the Batrishan Sanctuary through Briga's underground tunnel while Fratar, his twin brother, and Briga's three elder children stayed in the city to make sure that the scavenging soldiers didn't find the tunnel that the fugitives used to escape. Unfortunately, despite their mission, only Fratar and Ujak, Briga's eldest son, came out alive.

"He came in front of everyone when Gandeje and the other priests summoned our people in front of the Palace in order to see all the young Batrishans bellow thirteen. The Evil One wanted to take his son back with him, but he became furious when he found out that not only was his progeny not around, but the priests wanted to kill the baby. So he summoned his goblin army and had them kill everyone, burn all the houses, and destroy everything that stood in their way." Ujak pointed behind them, where deep, crimson clouds flowing in the air like floating pools of blood and ashes could be seen. "Even at 70 miles away from here, we can see the smoke of the entire carnage."

The fugitives watched in horror as the home where their deepest ancestral roots become nothing but a myth.

"I told you this was insane, Briga!" Sestra told her sister angrily. "Now the Evil One's armies will come after us unless they find the baby!"

Briga looked at her sister darkly as she held the quiet, yet alive baby. "Because you would have let _your_ daughter at the hands of the priests if they wanted her dead while the Evil One wanted to take her for himself?"

Sestra held on to her own five-year-old daughter, who was clinging onto her waist when she heard her aunt mentioning her. The armor-piercing question made sense to Sestra: she didn't lose her daughter the same way Briga lost her daughter Svjetla and she didn't have for a grandson a demigod child of the Evil One whom the Batrishan priests wanted to dispose off. She knew nothing of the pain that Briga had to deal with as she tried to save her one and only grandchild.

"So now what do we do, now?" Fratar asked.

"We need to find the nearest human port and go aboard a ship," Briga said. "I've heard how our nomadic brothers and sisters sailed across the oceans to explore or settle in the distant human lands."

"I believe I spotted a nearby human town last time I went to hunt for food," Voljeti said. "It's about half a day's flight from here, but I bet we can ask for directions towards the nearest port."

"Excellent idea, son," Briga said with a smile. "We split up in order to search for nearby towns that can tell us the directions to the closest port from our current location. We should try to meet back here about 3 days from now?"

"What do we do about the baby, though?" Sestra pointed out. "He might slow us down. Or worse, imagine if the Evil One has spies in the towns that we visit!"

"I'll stay here and watch him," Ujak volunteered. "I'll find some hollow tree trunk to hide him in in order to avoid any wicked passerby from finding him."

Briga hesitantly looked at her grandson, who was sleeping silently in her arms. In the end, she agreed and handed the baby to Ujak.

"I'll be back for you, little One," she whispered to the small thing as she planted a small kiss on its forehead and flew off with the other fugitives in order to find what they were looking for, not knowing that this would be the last time she would ever see, speak, or kiss her grandson ever again.

Ujak managed to find a hollow oak tree not too far from their camping area. He placed a few leaves inside to make a mattress for the baby bundled up in blankets. With the skills he learned as a tapestry maker, he managed to make a bush like camouflage with leaves and branches in order to hide the baby as it slept in the hollow.

When nighttime came, Ujak decided to gather more food and left the oak in order to find anything to eat. He ended up finding a field of red poppies and thought that he could use the flowers' nectar to make a honeyed beverage for his nephew. Unfortunately for him, those poppies came from the distant realm of Oz, and like anybody who had the misfortune of smelling those flowers, Ujak ended up falling asleep and his body became the feast for passing wild beasts.

A day and a half had passed. While the sun was beginning to set, a figure approached the area of the deserted encampment. It was none other than Kaïra, a presumed orphaned young goddess in training from Asgard, home of the Norse gods. On that day, the fifteen-year-old goddess was collecting healing herbs for her adoptive mother, the All-Mother Friga. She was close to filling up half of her basket with herbs until she heard wails. Wondering where the wails of the helpless mortal creature came from, she followed the sound until it led her past the empty Batrishans' camp towards a bush covering an oak tree. Using her sickle, she swiped the camouflage away and found the baby Batrishan, crying from not being fed for almost two days.

" _Odin's beard! You poor wee thing!_ " Kaïra exclaimed, dropping her sickle in order to pull out the crying infant and hold it in her arms. " _Who would leave a little baby Batrishan like you out in the wild? You could have died from famine or gotten killed by wild beasts!"_ She cradled the baby in her arms, which lowered its tone while still hungry.

" _It's no use staying here. I'd better take you back to Asgard with me. Friga will know how to save you."_ Kaïra gathered her belongings and opened a portal to Asgard, taking the baby Batrishan with her.

When Briga and the other Batrishans returned to the camp the next day at dawn, they were horrified to find the remaining corpse of Ujak and no signs of the baby anywhere. Briga screamed in despair right when the Evil One's goblins emerged from the shadows, killing them all.

For many, it seemed like the species of the Batrishans came to an end.


	4. The goddesses take the baby to Aldorada

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The goddesses take the baby to Aldorada

" _This infant is the Evil One's son."_

Kaïra managed to sneak inside the halls of Asgard in order to bring the crying baby Batrishan to the All-Mother Friga without anybody noticing her. The moment she stepped inside the chamber of Friga, however, the All-Mother knew instantly that the baby had the blood of the Evil One flowing in its veins. Still, seeing the poor baby demigod hungry and cold filled the queen of the Norse gods with pity. She gently took the baby from Kaïra's arms and breast-fed the baby, who stopped crying in order to focus sucking the godly and warm maternal milk.

" _Even if he's the child of that wicked god, we can't let the Evil One take him back!"_ Kaïra protested. " _He'll feed on it's essence the same way he feeds on those of children he steals through the wishes of unfortunate mortals!_ "

" _I know, Kaïra,_ " the All-Mother said, wiping her breast and covering it once the baby was done feeding itself and went back to sleep again. " _This wee thing appears to have done nothing but sleep ever since it was born. Batrishans consider it bad luck if babies haven't done anything that showed they were happy once they were born. It hasn't found a home for it to belong in."_

" _And it's not like he'll find one in the Batrishan Sanctuary,_ " Kaïra walked towards a holographic map in the room that showed the world in its current state. With a motion of her fingers, she zoomed in the location of the former Batrishan Sanctuary: ruins, toxic gases, and mountains of corpses married to ashes were all that was left. " _Everything that connects him to his mortal family has forever disappeared. There are barely a few survivors of the catastrophe and they're trying to reach the realms were the nomadic Batrishans settled among humans."_ She toyed with the holographic map, showing Batrishans trying desperately to run away from their homeland in order to find a new sanctuary.

" _This child won't go anywhere near any other surviving Batrishans._ " The All-Mother cuddled the sleeping baby in her divine arms. " _I can tell that the Evil One will send his armies to spread his wrath until he has destroyed every single Batrishan who had survived the genocide and his wrath. For the infant's sake and probably everybody else's, we must keep the child away from his Batrishan kin and as far away from any place near the Batrishan Sanctuary. I'll put a mist spell so that no other god, including the Evil One, will ever find him."_ With a wave of her hand, she summoned a form of cyan mist that dissolved into the sleeping baby.

Friga handed the baby to Kaïra, who hugged it. " _Kaïra, you will be the Batrishan's patron goddess. You will watch him as he grows and survives among men, and when the time comes, he will repay the debt he owes you. Since you saved him, he'll have to be your follower and servant,_ " she declared firmly.

" _I understand, All-Mother,_ " Kaïra said. " _But where shall I hide him?_ "

" _Take it to the other side of the Enchanted Forest, across the seas, away from the Batrishan Sanctuary, to Aldorada."_

 _Nighttime in Aldorada_

It was pouring rain in Aldorada.

Kaïra, hidden under her green cloak, carried the baby Batrishan in a small, golden casket, where it still slept peacefully. She walked through the rain until she found the average-sized, medieval and Renaissance styled church that she was looking for: Aldorada's most infamous church. The St Alejandro's Chapel. From outside, one could see the lights and hear the music coming from inside. At least there would people at the Chapel to find the baby at its doorsteps.

" _I sincerely wished I could have kept you, little Batrishan,_ " Kaïra sighed as she placed the casket in front of the door. " _But you can only be stronger among people who are different than you."_

She placed a small kiss on the baby's forehead before closing the casket. Using her magic to summon a large stick, she banged on the Chapel's door loudly until she heard upcoming footsteps, forcing her to turn into a raven and fly away.

A friar found the casket and brought it inside. Tonight was the feast of St Fitzgerald, Aldorada's legendary navigator and adventurer. On this occasion, many noblemen and noblewomen came to the Chapel in order to give prayers, feast, and rejoice in honor of one of their beloved saints. Everybody was having a good time until they saw the friar coming back inside with a strange casket and gasping at its content before gently closing it again.

"Friar Andre, whatever is the matter?" one of the noblemen asked.

"It…it's a Batrishan! Somebody left a Batrishan at the house of St. Alejandro!" Friar Andre exclaimed.

Gasped shocks and murmurs were heard throughout the crowd. Of course, by then, scouts from foreign lands have brought the news of the tragic extinction of the Batrishans, the civilization renown for its science and arts, due to some god's wrath hours ago. For many in Aldorada, the glorious empire it was, the lost of such amazing knowledge traumatized historians, teachers, mages, and storytellers. The thought that the very last Batrishan was found at the footsteps of St Alejandro's chapel was all but incredulous. Now everybody began rushing towards Friar Andre, in the hopes of seeing the content of the casket.

"Whatever is going on here?" a voice asked. Everyone turned to see Captain Hernan Denada Cortés and his wife Geneva at the entrance of the Chapel. It was impossible for anyone in Aldorada or anywhere else in the world to not know about Hernan, the infamous officer of Queen Florencia's armies who victoriously led the troupes in battlefields and brought honor and triumph to his nation, leading the queen to promote him many times and for him to offer a perfect, wealthy life for him, his wife, and their servants. Unfortunately for them, Geneva recently lost her newborn son William the previous day while giving birth to him. The couple was running late from giving a few mourning and flowers to the grave of the son they lost at St Martha's Cemetery.

"Captain!" a noblewoman cried. "Friar Andre found a Batrishan in a casket at the doorsteps of the Chapel!"

"A Batrishan?" Hernan frowned. "Didn't the news say that they were extinct?"

While her husband questioned the noblewoman, Geneva walked towards the friar and curtsied in front of him.

"My father and friar," she asked politely. "Would it be alright if I have a look at the Batrishan, please?"

The friar, happy that she wasn't rushing him unlike the others, granted her permission to do so. Everyone watched as the noblewoman carefully removed the casket's lid and looked inside it. Her surprised look turned into a look of adoration.

"Why…it's a baby Batrishan," she said as she pulled out the little baby that began laughing in her arms. In an instance, it was love at first sight between a mother and a child.

Everyone awed at the sight of the little baby. Despite its bat-like appearance, it was still an cute little thing to see.

"Geneva…he is quite adorable!" Hernan said as he got close to his wife. With a gentle hand, he caressed the baby Batrishan's cheek, causing the little creature to laugh even more. Seeing that his wife was losing all the sorrow she had when William died, Hernan came up with an idea.

"Friar Andre? If you may, my wife Geneva and I would like to hold a baptism ceremony right now," he said in front of everyone, much to their happy surprise and the delight of Geneva.

"Oh, Hernan!" She kissed her husband with a lot of joy and hugged her new, future son.

"Well, in that case, I don't see why we can't proceed immediately," Friar Andre smiled, mentally thanking the Lord for saving the last Batrishan and blessing the captain and his wife with a new child. "And what shall you name him?"

Hernan and Geneva looked at each other and came up with the same idea.

"Since he was found at the Chapel during the holiday of St Fitzgerald," Hernan said, "we shall name him Fitzgerald."

So it was settled. Under the candle's lights and in front of a crowd of Aldoradian noblemen and noblewomen, the baby was poured some holy water on its head by the friar and watched with its golden eyes as it laid in his new mother's arms and the friar made the shape of the cross on its bat forehead.

"In the name of the Father, his son, his saints, and his followers, I hereby baptize thee Fitzgerald Denada Cortés!"


	5. Melchior's Warning & Medallion's Removal

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Melchior's Warning and the Medallion's Removal

By the time the festivities at St Alejandro's Chapel were finished along with the rain, the Denada Cortés family took their carriage back to their estate in the aristocratic neighborhood of Aldorada.

Due to his fame and amazing services to Aldorada, Hernan was always given opportunities to move within the apartments in the Aldoradian Royal Palace and get the privileges meant for the Aldorada Royal Court. However, he humbly kept declining the offers, saying that he preferred to continue living in the mansion where his family lived for countless generations and where he lived for most of his childhood years until he was old enough to join the military. Hernan knew that it was better to raise children in more open spaces, and the Denada Cortés estate had quite a large amount of land with a small, but efficient flower plantation that he created for his wife as a wedding gift. He hoped that his son William would be able to grow up in such a happy environment, but that wouldn't be possible since the latter was dead.

His hopes weren't for naught, now that he and Geneva had adopted Fitzgerald. He smiled as he watched Geneva cuddle and coo at the happy baby Batrishan until they arrived at their home.

"They're it is, Fitzgerald," he said as they got out of the carriage. "Your new home."

The baby gave a small look at the three-story mansion made of marble bricks, golden-framed windows, and red tiled roofs that faced him. A green garden with diversities of flowers, a lovely pavilion near a small fountain ornated with a statue of Apollo and rows of trees circled the mansion like a series of colorful blankets in front of one big pillow. Behind the mansion were the field were the flower plantations that Hernan possessed. From the porch, the magnificent city of Aldorada and the sea could be seen.

"You like it, don't you?" Geneva smiled as her son happily fidgeted in her arms. "Look, Hernan! He's so adorable when he fidgets like that!"

Her husband chuckled as they got inside the mansion. "I assume your going to nickname him 'Fidget' for short?"

"Hernan, you're too clever!" Geneva gave him a teasing push. "I would have never thought about it! Fidget…it is short for Fitzgerald."

They walked through the hallways filled with family tapestries, portraits, and furniture until they reached the dining hall. Carmen, their plump, dutiful maid and cook was sitting on one of the chairs, looking sadly at a pair of baby shoes she had knitted days ago in the hopes of giving them to her masters' son until the latter died. When she heard someone coming and looked up to see her masters entering, she quickly got up and straightened herself.

"Master Hernan! Mistress Geneva! I see you're back," she said as she bowed before them. "How was the celebration at St Alejandro's Chapel?"

"It was a delight, Carmen," Hernan answered. "Especially by what the Lord has blessed us with on this special occasion."

"Really? And what that might be?"

Hernan motioned with his head at the bundle that Geneva was holding in her arms. Carmen's face of confusion turned into one of happiness when she saw that her mistress was holding a baby in her arms.

"Why, Mistress Geneva! You've found yourself a new child! Why, my dear, congratulations!" Carmen leaned closer and noticed the baby's features. "Interesting. His features aren't human."

"Yes, we know, Carmen," Hernan said. "Fitzgerald is a Batrishan."

"Fitzgerald? After the saint?" Carmen looked at her master. "And a Batrishan? But I thought the news said that the entire species was completely wiped out."

"We thought the same, Carmen," Geneva explained. "But don't you see? The Lord granted him the gift of life and saved him from certain death. The poor, sweet thing was found outside of the Chapel, while it was raining, in a casket, by Friar Andre during the feast of St Fitzgerald, and after we lost our first son William. It couldn't have been a coincidence!"

Carmen saw how her mistress was happy and looked at Fitzgerald. "Outside in the rain?" she asked the baby. "You poor thing! Luckily for you, you found the best parents a child could ever ask for. I'm sure Master Hernan and Mistress Geneva will make you the happiest Batrishan on earth."

"Then I'm sure Fidget-that's his nickname by the way- will also be happy to have you as a nurse… if you'd gladly accept, Carmen," Hernan added.

"Of course!" Carmen said happily, clapping her hands together. "And to celebrate this, how about I make a celebratory meal to welcome the new addition of the family? And…wait. Master Hernan, Mistress Geneva, what is that thing around Fidget's neck?"

Carmen's mention got the attention of the parents. They looked down at Fidget and noticed that something buried within the baby's blankets and close to its neck was glowing. Using a gentle hand, Hernan pulled out something that appeared to be a medallion made of gold. They didn't know it yet, of course, but those who know are aware that this was none other than the medallion that Ashiva gave Fitzgerald barely a few minutes after he was born back in the Batrishan Sanctuary.

"Hernan…what is that?" Geneva gasped. Before her husband could even answer, the medallion began burning, causing to Hernan to let go of the medallion and for Fidget to start crying.

"Hernan! Remove that thing at once!" Geneva said, holding on to her baby. "Fidget could get hurt!"

Instantly, Carmen took a towel from her pocket and quickly used it to pull the medallion off the baby and settle it on the table. The medallion stopped burning, but it looked as if nothing happened and it was leaving behind golden smoke just for the heck of it.

"Carmen, why don't you give Fidget a nice, warm bottle of milk while my wife and I discuss the situation? Hernan asked quietly.

"Of course, Master Hernan," Carmen said. Geneva, sad to let go of her son so soon, gave Fidget to Carmen, and watched as their most trusted servant cuddled their son in her arms while going to the kitchen.

"Hernan, what on earth is this medallion?" Geneva asked.

"I don't know, Geneva," Hernan said. "Let's consult Melchior."

 _Ten minutes later_

Melchior appeared-literally- twenty minutes later in the dining room.

Melchior was a living saint. He was a mage, once king, who traveled from his kingdom to Israel to witness and bless the Lord's son at the latter's birth. For years, Melchior was summoned to bless newborns and for years he gladly and kindly did his job. But so many years of blessing did eventually lead to a well merited retirement in a quiet, peaceful farm in Aldorada. When Hernan's messenger came saying that Aldorada's infamous captain needed the mage's help concerning his son, Melchior initially refused until the messenger mentioned that Hernan's son was an adopted baby son. After checking his crystal ball to confirm the messenger's honesty, Melchior transported himself to the mansion of the Denada Cortés.

Once he arrived, the couple explained to him the situation and showed him the medallion.

"The medallion is a Batrishan's birthright," he said as he examined the medallion. "When a Batrishan is born, their god Ashiva gives them a special kind of medal. The metal defines the Batrishan's born social status and the metal's value depicts the Batrishan's value as an individual."

"So what does it mean for our son Fitzgerald?" Hernan asked.

Melchior showed them the depiction of the medallion: a four-armed Batrishan wielding fire in his hands while a crowd of Batrishans bowed before him. "This is a depiction of Ashiva, the Batrishans monotheist god of balance. He is giving his secret element, dark fire, to his selected followers," he explained. "The medallion's design and metal proves only one thing: the baby Batrishan, Fitzgerald as you named him, was born within the Batrishan priests."

Geneva looked a Hernan. "I knew this wasn't a coincidence, Hernan! He was a priest's child found in front of a chapel on a holy day!"

"Uh, you should be a bit concerned about Fitzgerald's value," Melchior warned.

The parents looked at the mage. "Whatever do you mean?" Hernan asked.

"Well, as you can see, the gold used to craft the medallion is rather bright. In Batrishan traditions, the brighter the medallion is, then the more valuable its owner is. And according to records, it is a rarity to find an extremely pure and valuable medallion designated for the Batrishan priests like the one Fitzgerald has."

"Then it's good, isn't it?" Geneva insisted. "It means that Fidget will be a very valued and pure Batrishan."

"Well, I did notice this." Melchior turned the medallion to the other side so that the Denada Cortés could see. To their shock, they saw what appeared to be a small darkness expanding itself like the roots of a disease carrying mushroom.

"Melchior, what is **that**?" Hernan asked.

"I don't know, Captain," the mage said silently. "But from the way I'm sensing it, the purest of all Batrishan priests came with the darkest of all Batrishans. Should your son ever be exposed to the smallest deed, sight, or amount of evil, than he will be contaminated by evil as fast as a plague contaminates a country and become the darkest villain any realm would ever see."

Geneva sobbed while Hernan clenched his fists.

"No, I won't let that happen," he said. He quickly left the room and came back a few minutes later with a small green crest with paintings of deer on it. He took the medallion from Melchior, who didn't react, and put it in the empty crest.

"I will raise my son to do everything for the best," Hernan declared as he locked the crest with a small key. "He'll follow the code of honor and humanity. He'll be raised in the happiest environment and will stay clear away from evil."

"I'm warning you, though, Hernan," Melchior said seriously. "You can't keep the medallion away from Fitzgerald too long. The medallion will eventually find its way to its master and the latter will have to know the truth."

"I understand. But until then, Fitzgerald mustn't know anything!"


	6. Sweet Childhood & Royal Invitation

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Sweet Childhood and Royal Invitation

 _Two years later_

Geneva sat at the dining table, drinking a cup of warm coffee. The sun was shining through the windows as Carmen served breakfast.

"Mistress Geneva, hasn't the little master woken up yet?" Carmen asked as she placed the trays full of beignets, hot chocolate, berry salads, and orange juice on the table.

"Goodness, Carmen, you're right," Geneva said as she put down her cup and got up from the table. "I haven't noticed. The sweetheart must have overslept."

She got up the stairs until she reached the floor where the bedchambers were reigning. Once she went down the hallway and reached the door that was closest to the window, she knocked on it.

"Fidget, sweetie?" Geneva called. "Are you awake?"

Not a single response. Quietly, the young mother opened the door and stepped inside the bedroom.

It was quite a nice room. On one side, there was furniture with drawers where the young Fitzgerald kept his smallest properties in them; a vase with poppies and roses decorated the furniture. Next to it stood a white, mahogany closet where he obviously kept all of his clothes. On the other side stood a small desk where he drew or practiced reading and writing when Geneva, Hernan (if he was home from the battlefield), or Carmen was tutoring him. Next to it was a cute little chest in which the small Batrishan always put away his toys once he was done playing with them. Near the windows covered with their white curtains were a few bookshelves holding storybooks that Geneva or Carmen would read to the little thing in case the latter couldn't sleep.

Finally, a large red canopy bed with its curtains draw shut stood at the other end of the room. Geneva quietly walked towards it and slightly pulled the curtains open. There, bundled in the heavy, yet warm silk blankets was the cute little Batrishan that Geneva loved and raised. She sighed in adoration at the sight of the small, bat-like creature sleeping with its small eyes closed, strands of messy black hair slightly shielding them from any possible light, and bat ears bending down like those of a pouting puppy.

"Aren't you adorable as always?" Geneva said sweetly. Using her index character, she gently rubbed her son's little nose. After a few rubbings, his eyes managed to struggle themselves open. He was initially annoyed at first, but when his golden eyes with small hints of red in his irises caught sight of his mother, happiness was on his face.

"Mama," he said in a small voice, reaching out for Geneva. She picked him up and cuddled him in her arms. He barely turned two-years-old a few months ago and he was still small enough to be carried by Geneva. The latter watched with love and adoration as Fidget hugged her tightly, looking like a small ball of dark cuteness that cuddled in its mother's arms.

"Did you sleep well, Fidget?" Geneva asked, caressing the small Batrishan's hair as she carried him out of his bedroom and downstairs back to the dining room.

"I dreamed Papa came back," Fidget said. "I sat in bed all night, waiting for him to come back."

 _That explains a lot_ , Geneva thought. Since Hernan was an important captain and leading figure in Aldorada's military, he was quite absent while going on the battlefield. But since he was such an efficient leader, it only took Hernan a week or two to lead the troupes to victory and he'd send a letter in advance to let his wife and son know that he'd be returning. Whenever Hernan came back, he'd instantly spend his free time with his family, especially with Fitzgerald. Recently, Hernan's last letter announced another victory for Aldorada and he'd be returning home very soon. And of course, the way Fidget understood things; it meant that his Papa would be returning home in less than a second.

"He'll be back, Fidget," Geneva said as she placed Fidget on his small chair in front of the dining table. She didn't need to hand him his favorite blue napkin or tell him that he should eat the healthier parts of breakfast first: he was only one-and-a-half when he finally managed to properly put a napkin on his lap and eat the berry salad first…all by himself. This made Geneva proud of having such a talented child.

Carmen came back from the kitchen due to having to reheat the hot chocolate. "Good morning, Little Master," she said with a smile.

"Morning, Auntie Carmen," the small child smiled. Over the course of the years, as Carmen nursed the young Batrishan, Hernan and Geneva weren't against their son calling her 'Auntie Carmen'. "How's Jerome?"

"Jerome is doing pretty well, thank you." Carmen nodded as she poured the hot chocolate in a small cup meant for the child. As for Jerome, he was the stable boy of the Denada Cortés family and Carmen's grouchy, yet sympathetic older brother. It was pretty funny for everyone when Fidget's first full sentence was: "Jerome eats horse poop" because Jerome accidently got his face into a pile of horse poop on that day.

"Mistress Geneva, any news from Master Hernan yet?" Carmen turned towards Geneva, who was watching Fidget eat his breakfast quietly.

"Like I've said before Carmen, the letter I got about six days ago said that he would be back by anytime," Geneva sighed.

"I just want to know in advance, that's all, Mistress Geneva," Carmen said politely. "I keep planning to make a delicious feast whenever I receive the news of his upcoming return, and every day I end up with leftovers of several dishes gone cold!"

Before Geneva could answer, the sounds of a carriage horse neighing were heard from outside. The women and the Batrishan raised their heads in surprise.

"It must be Papa!" Fidget squealed. He quickly rubbed his mouth with his napkin and jumped off his chair in order to run for the front door. But Geneva, protective as she was, managed to grab him before he could go any further.

"Hep-hep-hep!" she said as she lifted her son up so that he could look her in the eyes. "Fidget, you don't who it is. Besides, you haven't taken a bath yet."

"You're sure you're not just saying that because you haven't let anybody from outside the property see him?" Carmen remarked.

Geneva didn't argue, for she knew Carmen was right. Ever since the death of her first son William and Melchior's warning about her adopted son's possible future, she and Hernan did take a few precautions. Since they were worried that most of the common folk in Aldorada would badly react to the notion of having a Batrishan, a non-human creature, being raised by a military captain and his wife, they kept Fitzgerald within the Denada Cortés estate until they were certain that he was ready to see the outside world.

Before anything could be done, Jerome came in, followed by a royal messenger.

"Mistress, a message from the Master," Jerome said through grunts. "He's in Aldorada and he's been promoted by Queen Florencia. He's now Commander Denada Cortés."

"Commander? How wonderful!" Geneva exclaimed as she hugged Fidget in her arms. "Did you hear that, Fidget? Papa's a commander now!"

"When are we seeing Papa?" Fidget asked.

"Is this the Batrishan that Commander Denada Cortés found at St Alejandro's Chapel?" the royal messenger asked suddenly. Geneva looked to see the messenger giving them an uneasy look, especially towards Fidget. Feeling like he wasn't being liked, Fidget sunk his face in fear in his mother's chest.

"Yes, this is our son, Fitzgerald," Geneva said sternly. "Why? I hope you aren't being judgmental just because he doesn't look human…"

"No! No, of course not, Lady Denada Cortés!" the messenger stammered. He pulled out an envelope with the royal insignia from his leather satchel and handed it to Geneva. "There's a letter from your husband along with a letter from the Queen herself for you. Good day!" He bowed before excusing himself immediately from the mansion. Jerome escorted him out.

"How rude of him!" Carmen said as she cleared the dishes. "Insulting the little master like that!"

"But the funny man didn't call me a mean name," Fidget said as he sat on Geneva's lap while she opened the envelope and read the letters.

"No, Fitzgerald, but the way he looked at you is the same way Jerome looks at pigs when they're out of the barn after a summer rain."

"Oh. That wasn't a nice day. You yelled at him when he entered the kitchen with his dirty boots on."

Carmen chuckled. Seriously, this child could be naïve.

"I can't believe you Hernan!" Geneva exclaimed out loud, making Fitzgerald and Carmen look at her in surprise.

"What's wrong, Mama?" Fidget asked.

"It's your father," Geneva grumbled. "He's at the royal palace dealing with a few more businesses before he sees us this afternoon. But that's not all. The Queen sent us an invitation for a royal party tonight to celebrate another Aldoradian victory."

"Don't worry, Mistress Geneva," Carmen said. "I'll take good care of the Little Master while you and Master Hernan are at the party. Right, Fidget?"

"You'll teach me how to play chess?" Fidget asked with cute eyes.

"Of course," Carmen laughed.

"I'm afraid that Fidget won't be learning chess tonight," Geneva grumbled as she tossed the letters on the table, which surprised the small Fidget, since he'd never seen his mother that upset. "Queen Florencia also invited Fidget."

Carmen nearly dropped her tray full of dirty dishes. "The Queen wants to…but the Little Master is still young! Only grown-ups will surround him! Plus, remember how the messenger reacted when he saw Fidget?"

"I don't wanna go, Mama!" Fidget whined, as he hugged Geneva tightly. "What if they don't like me?"

"I know how you feel," Geneva said as she hugged her son. "But a queen's orders must be followed no matter what. Don't worry, your Papa and I will always be there for you if someone tries to harm you. Besides, you might meet children of your age."

This got Fidget's attention. After all, although he did get along well with the staff in his home and treated them as part of the family, Fidget never met actual children. And with Hernan and Geneva's protective nature, he never got out of the lands that his parents owned. Maybe the royal party could be his one shot at socializing with people of his age and social rank.

"I'll try, Mama," Fidget said quietly.

Geneva smiled and placed a small kiss on her son's forehead. "You'll do great, Fitzgerald," she said encouragingly. "I know you'll do great things in the future."


	7. Parties, Adults & Love At First Sight?

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Royal Party, Adults, and Love at First Sight?

"Are you alright, Fitzgerald?"

It was close to 5 pm and the Denada Cortés were sitting in a carriage heading for the party at the Royal Palace. Hernan, now commander, had come back home to see his family before he left with. Despite the heartfelt reunion, Geneva was still upset at him for not protesting against the Queen for requesting Fitzgerald's presence but she gave up when Hernan explained that rumors going on from the mouths of every aristocrat in Aldorada, eventually to the ears of the Queen, Hernan's old childhood friend, about his Batrishan son, the last of his kind. And of course, who wouldn't want to meet a somewhat celebrity?

Hernan was asking Fidget how the latter was doing as their carriage was pulled away from their mansion. The small child was dressed up in a modest, yet high-class outfit consisting of a white shirt, a black waistcoat under a purple coat, black breeches and boots. His hair was tied back in the ponytail style that boys with long hair and wore and a small, Aldoradian purple-and-black tricorn. His dark physical appearance matched his attire. Concerning whether or not Fidget was alright, the young thing was anxious. This was his first time outside the walls of his idyllic home, meeting people other than just his parents or the staff. The young child was rather nervous of how people would react when they saw him.

"What if they don't like me, Papa?" he asked quietly.

Hernan picked up his son and let him sit on his lap, comforting him. "I promise, Fitzgerald, that as long as I live, nobody shall ever harm you."

Geneva gave Fidget a small nudge. "Look, sweetie. You can see the capitol city!"

That got Fidget's attention. He crawled on Hernan's lap until he could reach the carriage window and was amazed by the site of the city. All of the Renaissance-themed buildings ranging from the common households to the wealthy estates. Street markets, big stores, stables, plazas, parks, and so many wonders. With all the people of all classes, from the poor to the rich, walking around happily as if social status didn't matter, it was as if Aldorada was the city of the gods.

"Mama! It's beautiful!" He gasped.

"I know, sweetie," Geneva said. Hernan pulled Fidget away from the window for his safety and placed him back on his lap.

"Stay put, Fidget," Hernan said as he held on to his son. "We'll arrive at the Royal Palace in a few minutes."

"Speak of the Devil, we've arrived," Geneva said.

Fidget took a peak through the window and saw what his mother was referring to: their carriage was crossing through open green gates along with a few other carriages ahead of them. Around them were large gardens full of green mazes, rows of pine trees, statues, and flowers. People were gathered within these gardens for the celebration. Never in his life had Fidget seen so many lights coming from lanterns, fireworks exploding in the sky, and music ringing in his ears. All the commotion around the small child made him ignore the majestic royal castle.

"Remember, Fidget," Hernan said as he helped his son get down of the carriage once they arrived, "when you are speaking to an adult other than us, you speak politely and address to them as 'sir' or 'milady'. Also, you bow when introducing yourself."

"Hernan! Don't pressure him so much!" Geneva scolded.

"Papa wasn't, Mama," Fidget tried to sweetly reassure his mother, who sighed as she planted a quick kiss on her son's forehead.

"That's nice of you to say so, Fidget," she smiled.

The three of them walked throughout the gardens. As they walked, Fidget admired with great curiosity how luxurious and beautiful the sights were to him. For him back then, it was the sight of a child's wonderland that he could never imagine except in his biggest dreams, but eventually in the future, it would be the sight of a villain's desire to obtain everything.

"Ah, Commander Denada Cortés!" a voice broke his wonderland daydream. Hiding behind Geneva's protective arm that was pushing him closer to her gown so that he couldn't be seen, Fidget saw a dirty-blonde man with a mustache and a wealthy blue outfit who could have been older than Hernan himself.

"Hello, General Pizarro," Hernan said dryly. He and Pizarro were on rather bad terms: although Pizarro was a great general, he wasn't an amazing military leader like Hernan or as closely related to the Queen as Hernan. In other words, these two didn't quite like each other.

"I assume this is your charming wife, Geneva Denada Cortés," Pizarro said, bowing to Geneva, who gave a small curtsy in silence.

"Greetings, Commander Pizarro," Geneva said politely, yet in the same dry tone as her husband. "Congratulations on another victory for Aldorada. I assume that the battlefield wasn't so rough?"

"Oh no, it wasn't, lady Geneva. After our, our country's a very…" Pizarro noticed a dark child hiding behind Geneva and arched an eyebrow. "Why, Commander Hernan, I didn't know you brought slaves with you to a royal party?"

By saying these words, Pizarro had attracted the attention of many people standing by, who looked with curiosity at the Denada Cortés. Geneva bent down to cover Fidget, who hugged her back and hid his face in her chest, while Hernan looked angry. Claiming him of holding slaves was one thing, but to insult his son…

"I see that you have the tendency of insulting a child as usual," Hernan hissed. "You wouldn't treat your own child this way, would you Pizarro?"

"No, because my son isn't a slave," Pizarro said flatly. "Or not white." Gasps were heard among the crowd. "I mean, isn't one of your slaves a maid and cook in your own estate?"

The reference to Carmen stung Fidget's small mind. Hearing this man insulting his beloved nurse and Auntie Carmen just because of her skin color and inferior status made him rather angry for the first time in his life.

"My Auntie Carmen isn't a slave," he said out loud, pulling himself from an afeared Geneva and glaring daggers at Pizarro, who was shocked to see the child's actual appearance. "And you're being mean!"

"Fitzgerald!" Geneva said, pulling her son closer to her while he still looked at Pizarro.

"What on earth is this monstrosity that you've brought, Commander?" Pizarro demanded Hernan in disgust.

"The last Batrishan," one of the other noblemen said in defense for the Denada Cortés. "They adopted Fitzgerald when he was found at St Alejandro's Chapel on the day of St Fitzgerald."

"Named after the saint, to top it off." Pizarro now sounded more disgusted.

"Would it have been better if I had demoted you to a vulgar private, Commander Isaac Pizarro?" a voice said. Everybody turned to see Queen Florencia herself walking down the royal Spanish steps towards the group as the crowd made way for her. The Queen's arrival wasn't as surprising as the fact that the young Fitzgerald Denada Cortés was the first one to bow before the monarch. The pale blonde queen smiled at the youngling and patted him gently on the head.

"Thank you, young Fitzgerald," she said before turning to Pizarro. "As for you, Isaac Pizarro, I thought you knew better than to judge others based on appearances…"

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty…" Pizarro stammered. "But…he…the Batrishan isn't human like us."

"He was raised in Aldorada like us," Queen Florencia said firmly. "He lived on our principles like us. Human or not, he is an Aldoradian. In addition, he's still a toddler and yet he bows more maturely than the adult you are."

"But…but Your Majesty…"

"You're excused from the party. And we'll have a discussion tomorrow about your position as General." She pointed the exit, indicating that she wanted Pizarro to leave. The latter said nothing; he only bowed and left looking angrily at the Denada Cortés, most notably Fidget.

"My dear people, there's no need to end the festivities. Let's forget about this incident and go back to celebrating," the Queen addressed her subjects, who agreed and went back to their joyous activities.

"I'm terribly sorry for my son's outburst, Queen Florencia," Hernan apologized as Geneva went to hug Fidget. "It's his first time outside our house and…"

Florencia laughed. "Hernan, Hernan. Fitzgerald did nothing wrong. He was only defending the honor of someone he cared for."

Fidget let go of his mother so that he could also apologize to the Queen. "I didn't want to ruin things. The blonde man was being mean to my Auntie Carmen," he said quietly.

Florencia knelt down in front of Fidget and smiled at him. "You only did the right thing by being selfless and defending someone who was aggressed unfairly. By doing so, you were being more Aldoradian than Pizarro himself."

Fidget smiled.

"Your parents raised you very well. I'm sure they're very proud of you." Florencia caressed the head of the happy child and looked at his parents. Hernan did look proud and Geneva was holding back tears of joy.

"Thank you, Queen Florencia," Hernan smiled.

"Perhaps your son could meet my son and daughter? I'm sure they'd get along quite well. Plus, I'm sure Fitzgerald would prefer being around other children than just adults."

Fidget gave pleading eyes to his parents, who agreed.

 _Time skip_

A few minutes later, Queen Florencia had escorted Fidget to the Victory Garden, where two children were seen playing among the crowds.

"Pablo! Isabella! Come here!" she called.

The children heard and rushed towards her. One of them was a boy with golden blonde hair tied in the same style than Fidget. He wore practically the same clothes than Fidget only they were royal blue. He carried two wooden swords in his arms as if he wanted to play soldier. The other was a girl with golden hair tied in a Renaissance hairstyle. She wore a cute red Renaissance dress with golden ribbons. Both of the children had green eyes.

"Pablo, Isabella, this is Fidget. He's the son of Commander Denada Cortés ad it's his first time coming to a big party. Will you let him play with you?" Florencia asked.

"Yes, Mommy," Pablo said eagerly. Isabella took quite a while to answer to her mother since Fidget distracted her.

"OK, I'll let you three play." Florencia smiled at them and left them alone to play while she went to join the other adults.

"Do you play with swords?" Pablo asked, showing Fidget his wooden toy swords.

"I haven't," Fidget said sheepishly.

"That's OK. I'll show you." Pablo pulled Fidget by the arm and led him to a quiet corner with Isabella following them behind.

"You hold the sword on the grip," Pablo explained, placing one of the wooden swords in Fidget's right hand. The latter felt a strange force that made him hold the toy in a position parallel to his entire right arm.

"See, you're already holding it correctly," Pablo grinned. "Then, you have to use the sword to hit me or stop me from hitting you."

"But…won't you get hurt?" Fidget asked worried.

"Nah. I've done this several times."

"He even broke Mommy's vase from Agrabah," Isabella chuckled. This made Fidget silently giggle and Pablo look angrily at his sister.

"Ok, let's do this!" He charged his sword towards Fidget, who easily blocked the attack by holding the sword above his head in perfect balance.

 _Flip your sword to your right, Fitzgerald_ , a voice whispered in his soul. Not even wondering where the voice came from, Fidget flipped his sword on the right, causing Pablo to start losing balance. The prince looked rather surprised at the sudden, balanced attack of the newbie.

 _Let your two fingers spin the blade,_ the voice repeated. Fidget let the blade slip between his index and middle fingers and twirled the blade at the speed of a vortex until it managed to get knocked off Pablo's hands and landed on the ground.

"That was amazing!" Pablo panted. "We're did you learn to do that?"

Fidget let his left hand trail up and down the wooden blade in awe. He felt like he just unburied a hidden treasure that was hidden from him all his life.

"I…guess I just had it in me," he said, answering Pablo's question.

The boys kept playing with their wooden swords as Isabella watched them. However, her eyes were mostly locked onto Fidget. Everything about him intrigued her: his past, his bat-like, yet rather cute looks, and his sudden talent in swordfights. Isabella was such a big fan of tales that featured a beauty and a beast who was actually a prince in disguise.

And on that day, she knew that Fitzgerald Denada Cortés was the beast who would become her prince charming.


	8. Fidget Gets Recognized

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Fidget Gets Recognized

 _Two years after the Royal Party_

Two years had passed now since the Royal Party and Fidget was still having a joyful childhood. The only difference was that now, he spent more time outside of his family's mansion and played with other children, who liked the selfless young Batrishan very much. He also socialized with older people in Aldorada, who were amazed by the fact that they were speaking to the last member of an altruistic society that had brought sciences and arts to the world. Despite his modest behavior, Fitzgerald Denada Cortés had become quite famous throughout the country while he wasn't even four- years-old.

But the fame was only going to increase by his 4th birthday.

It was on the 21st of August 1761, which was also the day of St Fitzgerald, the day when Hernan and Geneva had adopted Fidget at St Alejandro's Chapel. Of course, they didn't know back then that his actual birthday was on the 14th, the same day when an annular eclipse covered the Enchanted Forest with dark, ominous lights for an entire day. To think that the last Batrishan was born on a day much darker than the winter solstice itself.

Back to the year 1761. Since Pablo and Isabella were best friends with Fidget (though it was pretty obvious that Isabella was crushing on Fidget) and hung out with him more than he did with any other Aldoradian boy or girl, Queen Florencia decided to host a birthday party just for the young Batrishan where everybody (aristocrats, commoner, adult, and child) was invited. It practically became a new national holiday for everybody in Aldorada.

"Thank you very much for hosting the party, Your Majesty," Fidget said bashfully to Florencia during the party. "You shouldn't have."

"Nonsense," Florencia laughed in a heartfelt way. "You deserved it. Why don't go you join Pablo and Isabella? They are waiting for you in the courtyard."

Fidget smiled and left to the courtyard where the royal children and a few common or aristocratic children waited for him. Florencia watched from the terrace as the small things played heroes coming back from battle.

"I don't know how to thank you for hosting this party in my son's honor," Hernan's voice said. Florencia turned to see the commander stand next to her in order to watch the children play too.

"It won't be necessary, Hernan," the Queen said with a warm smile. "Your son's a good person, Hernan; you should be proud of him."

"I am. That's…also one of the reasons I wanted to speak with you. You see, my wife Geneva and I are considering applying Fitzgerald at Aldorada's Military Academy."

Florencia's jaw dropped. Aldorada's Military Academy was thee finest military school in the entire kingdom. Children, boy or girl, who wanted to serve in the nation's military, began learning the basic fighting skills, strategic analysis, and warfare resources at a young age before entering the military at the age of 18. Hernan had been to the academy the same way his paternal ancestors did, following a legacy of remarkable military leaders. Queen Florencia liked the idea of Fidget attending the Academy. After all, he _was_ the adoptive son of Hernan Denada Cortés.

"It sounds like a wonderful idea, Hernan," she said. "I'm sure Fidget will do great in the academy."

"I'm glad you like that…" Hernan stopped himself when he saw something in the gardens that made him chuckle. "My, will you look at that, Your Highness."

Florencia looked at the scene that made Hernan chuckled and gave the same reaction. The children in the courtyard were now beginning a game of hide-and-seek. As they dispersed into the gardens in order to find a good hiding spot, Princess Isabella was seen pulling Fitzgerald by the arm and leading him through a pathway in the royal labyrinth.

"Young love," the queen and commander sighed in unison.

 _Time skip_

"I trust that I'll find him here?"

Señor De La Espada was Aldorada's Military Academy's finest professor. Every single youngster he had taught during the forty-five years of his entire career had become prominent soldiers for his beloved country's armed forces. He was the one who taught Hernan Denada Cortés, who was probably the best student he ever had even after teaching the commander's father.

But today, a dark green hooded woman led De La Espada as they travelled through the green pathways of the royal maze, away from the partying crowds. At first, De La Espada was uninterested when she came to his front door (he was a bit wary of foreigners due to the fear of accidently exposing his country's secrets to spies and strangers), but when the woman used a knife to slightly cut her right palm and golden blood leaked out of the injury, the mortal teacher realized that he was addressing a goddess.

" _We'll find the child there,"_ the goddess pointed at a small entrance. De La Espada frowned but shrugged it off before following her and observing from the shadows the scene that laid before them.

It was a small garden, which turned out to be a secret garden, since De La Espada had been to every single spot in the royal gardens and he'd never seen such a lovely hideout, with only a large oak tree with a big, red-green canopy, and a diversity of flowers ranging from regal ones like roses and lilies to plain flowers like buglosses, dayflowers, and bellflowers. A simple swing was hanging from one of the oak's thickest branches and Princess Isabella was swinging back and forth on it as Fitzgerald Denada Cortés admired the flowers.

"I like to come here a lot," Isabella said in a dreamy tone. "It's my personal quiet spot. Even my brother doesn't know about it. But you can come here whenever you like, Fidget."

"Thank you, Isabella." The small Batrishan picked a purple lilac and offered it to the princess. "For you, milady." Isabella gracefully got off the swing and smiled at Fidget as he offered her the flower.

"Why, thank you, my charming soldier!" The princess gave a curtsy as she took the lilac. Fidget gave a gentlemanly curtsy but got distracted when the four-year-old princess gave him a quick peck on the cheek, causing the Batrishan to blush in a tone redder than the roses in the oasis.

"Isabella!" Fidget scolded gently. "You weren't being fair!"

The princess giggled as if it were nothing. She twirled on the flowery beds as she placed the lilac in her hair. "I love lilacs. They're the same color that you're wearing."

The Batrishan looked down at his clothes. Although it was true that he did where the Aldorada's representative colors, black and purple, quite a lot, while he was out in public, he did also mostly wear purple at home. He never really understood why, but he never bothered asking about it. He was completely comfortable at wearing mostly purple clothing.

"I guess so. I never really considered it," Fidget chuckled.

Isabella picked more lilacs and held them in her hands in a bridal style. "When we get married, I'm gonna wear a white dress with purple laces and I'm gonna carry a lilac bouquet like this one." She then threw the bouquet in the air. Fidget looked in awe at the lilac rain until Isabella grabbed his hands and pulled him into a playful dance. "We'll be dancing under the stars and we'll go on adventures and have so many children and live happily ever after."

De La Espada and the hooded goddess didn't see the rest because the latter pulled the former away from the innocent scene and they discussed as they walked back through the pathways.

"I saw what you wanted to show me," De La Espada said.

" _I'm listening,"_ the goddess didn't budge.

"The spark. I saw the spark that usually leads a promising person to a successful hero. That spark is something that I don't see very often among my students. But **this Batrishan** had it. And if he could learn how to use it as a primary motivation, then he will become the greatest Aldoradian hero history will have ever known."

" _I'm glad to see that you are seeing things through the divine way,"_ the goddess smiled.

De La Espada smiled back and bowed before her. "I thank you again, milady. If you'll excuse me, I must find Hernan Denada Cortés and tell him I want to have his son as my pupil at Aldorada's Military Academy!" He started heading away but stopped himself. "You know, it was rather adorable that scene between him and the princess. She made a good reference on the color purple, for it depicts nobility, dignity, and romance." He officially left, leaving the goddess alone enough to pull of her hood, revealing herself as Kaïra.

" _As much as I agree with the idea of the young Fidget becoming a great hero, the chances of that happening are slim. For his father is the Evil One, and the chances of Fidget becoming a villain are high,"_ Kaïra sighed sadly. " _And the darker the Batrishan's soul becomes, so does his purple color. For purple also depicts power, ambition, mystery, gloom, sadness, frustration, and magic."_


	9. The Blade That Rips Through The Soul

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The Blade That Rips Through The Soul

"A prodigy, I'm telling you. A prodigy."

It had been several weeks since Fitzgerald Denada Cortés had entered Aldorada's Military Academy after De La Espada went to speak with the Batrishan's adoptive father during Fidget's birthday celebration; Hernan and Geneva were full of pride as they accepted to have their son in the efficient academy. As De La Espada expected, Fidget was using his hidden spark while fencing with his peers, but what the professor didn't expect was that the four-year-old lad was effortlessly able to beat his classmates with barely a few thrusts and strikes of his practice sword and didn't even fall down at least once.

What really surprised both De La Espada and the Academy's principal occurred during the senior-freshman prep rally. The prep rally was when the four-year-old freshman got a special swordfighting, training session with the soon-turning thirteen-year-old seniors while the freshman and senior teachers and the principal observed them from an upper platform. It was normal for freshmen to fail a bit and for seniors to not go easy on them during those prep rallies, but this year was rather shocking, for not only did Fidget not fail a single confrontation with the seniors, but he actually managed to defeat the seniors' best fencer, who had been undefeated by his peers ever since.

"I bet he got that from Hernan Denada Cortés," one of the senior professors told De La Espada. "Like father, like son, only much improved. You've taught that pupil very well, De La Espada."

"Thank you," the proud professor nodded.

"Are you sure he didn't get this from his Batrishan heritage?" another senior professor asked. "I mean, legends say that Batrishans used to be a very evolved civilization before their recent extinction."

"I don't believe that a person's strength comes from blood but by raising, determination, and self-discipline," De La Espada replied. "I wanted the child to be enrolled in our academy because I saw that he had the inner determination to fight for what's right."

"And you made a great selection," the principal said. "Once this session is done, we must organize a conference. With all the potential he has, Fitzgerald shouldn't be among the low ranks of freshmen."

 _Time skip_

Since Carmen didn't pick him up from school until an hour and a half after classes (Fidget was granted the privilege of staying a bit longer after school in order to play with the other children), the young Batrishan went to hang out with a few classmates and a couple juniors at St Martha's Cemetery.

St Martha's cemetery was the rare, grim place in all of Aldorada. Rows of tombstones, statues, and shrines were lined up in an army style across the deep hills and ending at the deep cliff that neighbored the sea. It was a rather creepy place to go to when the sky got cloudy and gray, but for children, it was a perfect place to go to in order to play hide-and-seek.

Although he loved playing hide-and-seek, Fidget felt a sudden uneasiness as he stepped inside the cemetery. For some reason, faint screams were jamming in his small head as he walked further into the gloomy place. Not feeling like he should express his thoughts to his playmates in fear of being mocked, Fidget didn't say anything.

While one of the juniors was counting, Fidget and the others went to hide throughout the cemetery. The young Batrishan was quite a pro at hide-and-seek and instantly found the perfect hideout: the south wing of the buried ones. Of course, back then, how was the little Batrishan supposed to know that this the area where Aldorada buried its most dishonorable and cowardly disgraces?

As soon as he stepped into the area, away from his classmates, Fidget felt a sudden force drawing him.

 _ **Come to me**_ _._

Those hissing words were so terrifying, yet so…entrancing to the small Batrishan.

 _ **Follow me.**_

Fidget gave a robotic nod as he walked away from the tombs and into a field of gray, sorrowful willows. Their gray, withered branches tried reaching the small Batrishan who paraded through the rows of willows, hypnotized by the entrancing voice that called him.

Finally, he reached a clearing with willows surrounding it like the wall that surrounded the garden of his home. In the middle stood an odd-looking altar made of stones, ruined columns, and twisted, dark ivy and mandrake. Out of nowhere, a glow appeared on the altar's stone table.

 _ **Approach me.**_

The small Fidget stepped up the altar and walked in front of the table. A flash came and a sword table appeared in front of him.

It wasn't like the swords he saw his father or anybody at the Academy carry. The blade looked so smooth, yet so sharp with its silver metal that shone in the darkness. The grip was pitch black and the cross-guard was shaped like dark, twisted bat wing membranes.

 _ **Let me be yours.**_

Fidget nodded as he let his small hand make way towards the grip until a pale hand restrained him.

" _Don't,_ " a female voice said. Fidget nearly froze. Why did that feminine voice sound like one that he had heard years ago?

He looked up and saw a young woman, who could have been around nineteen, wearing a dark cloak above what Fidget could barely distinguish as cyan blue attire. Never in his life had the young child seen a lovely person with snow pale skin, dark swirly green eyes, and long, hazel hair with one magenta streak going all the way down to her waist. Of course, Fidget saw Isabella as a very lovely, charming girl, but this woman had beauty that could only be divine.

"Who are you?" he asked hesitantly.

" _Someone from your past,"_ the woman said as she let go of his hand. " _You don't remember me. You were only an infant when I left you at the steps of St Alejandro's Chapel._ "

Shock traveled throughout the young child's body. Now he understood why the voice sounded so familiar: he heard that voice in his head whenever he slept. _You poor wee thing! Who would leave a little baby Batrishan like you out in the wild? I sincerely wished I could have kept you, little Batrishan._

"W…what do you want from me?" Fidget stammered. He trembled until he felt the goddess' pale hand stroke his cheek. Her skin was cold, yet her touch was warm.

" _Nothing yet. But in the meantime, avoid this curse at all cost."_

Fidget looked at the sword. "Why?"

" _The Blade That Rips Through The Soul. As its name states, the sword only lets those whose souls were ripped by pain wield it."_

"But…I'm not in pain. Why did I follow it?"

" _You felt the pain of your people's death once you entered St Martha's cemetery. The sword censed it and used that pain to lure you here in the hopes that you would take it."_

Fidget walked stepped back away from the stone table. "I don't want a weapon like that! Tell it to go away!" Right when he said those words, dark ivy twirled around and over the table and slowly turned into a dark silver prison encaging the sword.

" _It's not a question of whether or not you want to wield it, Fitzgerald,"_ the woman said. " _It's a question of when you're going to have enough pain in your heart to make you determined to take that sword, wield it, and use it against your foes. Judging from your past, the reason the sword would want you as its owner makes sense."_

"Why does that sword even exist if it's so bad?" Fidget asked indignantly.

" _Ever heard of the Dark One?"_

"Mean man with lots of magical powers. That's what my Auntie Carmen told me."

" _We'll your Auntie Carmen is true, except that she and most people don't know that the Dark One can be killed by a special dagger and that there was once a godly Dark One."_

"You mean that…the mean…uh…Dark One was once a god?"

" _More like one of the Dark One's avatars was once a god. You see, there was this evil god who wanted to prove so badly that he was more malevolent than even the most wicked deity in all the realms. And what better way to do so than to use the Dark One's dagger to kill the Dark One and absorb all of his powers in order to become the first divinity to possess such dark powers?"_

"What does it have to do with the sword?" Fidget asked, more confused then ever.

" _When the evil god killed the current Dark One millenniums ago, the energy that he created caused one small silver luster to get separated from the dagger. So small that neither the deceasing Dark One nor the evil god noticed it flying away and landing at a normal blacksmith's shop. The mortal used the luster to make a sword that eventually became a dark weapon."_

Fidget glanced one more time at the sword looking more terrified than ever. Could it really be possible that this cursed blade would lead him to a dark fate? Just thinking about it made the young Batrishan want to leave.

"I want to go back to the academy," he whimpered. The goddess looked at the small child and nodded in approval.

" _Indeed. Your Auntie Carmen will be arriving soon to pick you up. And remember what I said, Fitzgerald: DON'T WIELD THE SWORD UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO LET YOUR RIPPED PAIN GUIDE YOU THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS."_

She snapped her fingers and Fidget found himself instantly at the academy's courtyard right a few seconds before Carmen came to pick him up. The only thing he could deduce was that everything he just saw was nothing but a dream.


	10. Fidget Finds His Medallion

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Fidget Finds His Medallion

"Auntie Carmen, do you think Mommy will like these?" asked a six-year-old Fidget as he held a bouquet made of lilacs and passion flowers that he picked up from the family orchard. The old cook looked at the bouquet and smiled.

"Of course, Fidget," she said sweetly. "I'm sure that your mother will like it.

Hernan had taken Geneva out for a romantic stroll at the Everglow Beach down at the coast while Fidget, Carmen, and the rest of the staff prepared a surprise for Geneva's birthday. Jerome was cleaning the stables while a few pages were hanging birthday ornaments. Geneva was preparing a very special banquet to celebrate her mistress' birthday (it was going to be just a small, family party) and the small Fidget was collecting flowers to decorate the house. Ever since they adopted Fidget, Geneva had grown found of the purple, plain flowers that her little Batrishan loved to collect. They certainly made the house smell like a full field of fresh flowers.

Fidget placed flowerpots full of lilac and passionflower bouquets around the house. He placed a big one at the center of the dining table, a few in the diverse lounge rooms, one by the window in the library, another in the large bathroom, etc.

Then came his parents' bedroom.

The small Batrishan stood on his tiptoes in order to pull down the golden handle of the door. He stepped inside the brightly-lighten room, which was very different from his own bedroom, which a large, master canopy bed, two desks full of papers and quills, a large bookshelves, and several foreign furniture and ornaments that Hernan brought back from his war travels. Fidget mostly came to his parents' room when Hernan was showing him the spoils he brought back from battle and telling him stories that took place on the battlefield, or when Geneva as telling him bedtime stories while his father was off at war, or when he'd rush to his parents in the middle of the night due to a nightmare.

Fidget walked towards the mahogany table that stood by the side of the bed where Geneva slept. Grinning to himself, he placed a dragon-designed vase with a bouquet on the table. After some examination, he thought that the vase could use some extra decoration. Where did his mother put every doily that she knitted every summer?

He looked throughout his parents' bedroom. Although he didn't really enjoy snooping around without his parents' approval, he desperately wanted to please his mother, whom he loved so much, for her birthday. He carefully, yet quickly looked throughout the desk drawers, but only found papers, drawings, and other trinkets. He skimmed his parents' closet, but no doilies there either.

He tried opening that small cupboard from Agrabah that his parents would never let him touch, but its door was locked. Fortunately, Fidget didn't give up. Using a trick that one of the seniors at Aldorada's Military Academy showed him in order to escape being imprisoned by the enemy, the small Batrishan pulled out two pieces of wire from his pockets and used them to break open the tumblers in the door's lock. Fidget gleefully opened the cupboard, but disappointment covered his face when he saw that it was completely empty…except for one small chest.

"What's this?" he asked himself out loud as he pulled out the chest in order to examine it. The chest was small, even smaller than the chest that his mother used to keep her jewelry in. The oaken wood used to create that object was painted in deep green and had paintings of deer galloping in a miniature forest. Fidget tried to open the chest, but it was locked. Without one blink of hesitation, he used his two wires to break the chest open and see what was inside it.

He pulled out a golden medallion that shone when the sunrays hit the golden metal. Fidget's eyes widened in awe. He'd never seen such glowing medal for such a medallion. What really caught the child's attention was the design on the medallion: it looked like people were bowing in front of a taller being that possessed four arms and summoned fire from its hands. Fidget gasped in shock when he noticed that the designed beings had bat-like features…just like him! Except…they had wings like him!

What really terrified Fidget was when he flipped the medallion over and saw black stains on the back that slowly spread like roots.

 _You poor wee thing!_

 _If the infant is meant to be a monster, than we'll dispose of him._

 _Who would leave a little baby Batrishan like you out in the wild?_

 _I'll be back for you, little One._

 _I sincerely wished I could have kept you, little Batrishan._

 _ **And he'll be beyond powerful than the average member of your miserable people.**_

Fidget let a dizzy scream come out of his mouth as he fainted on the wooden floor, with his hand still clinging to the medallion.


	11. Time For Truth

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Time For Truth

"Thank you for taking me to Everglow Beach, Hernan," Geneva said. "It was a delight."

The sun was setting and the happy couple decided it was high time to go back home. As they rode their stallions back to the Denada Cortés Estate, Hernan was quite giddy on the inside, for he couldn't wait for Geneva to see the surprise that Carmen, Fidget, and the rest of the staff prepared for her birthday.

"Hernan, are you alright?" Geneva asked teasingly. "You look like the laughing teenager I met when we were younger."

"I'm just a lucky man, that's all," Hernan answered simply, in order to avoid ruining the surprise for his wife.

They rode up the pathway of pines that led to their mansion, where the front of the house was lighted with lanterns. Carmen and the rest of the staff were waiting for them in front of the main entrance. Geneva gasped at the sight while her husband helped her get down from her horse.

"Happy birthday, Mistress Geneva!" the staff chanted.

"Oh, my friends! Thank you so much!" Geneva cried. "Hernan, you're such a devil!"

"Why, thank you my love," he said as his wife planted a kiss on his cheek. They went to join the others, who shook hands with the mistress of the house and congratulated her for her 36th birthday. Geneva was so happy from the surprise until she noticed that a beloved face was missing.

"Where's Fitzgerald?" she asked.

"The little master hasn't come down all afternoon, Mistress," Jerome said. "He refused to see anyone at all, even Carmen!"

"Carmen, what is the meaning of this?" Hernan asked, getting worried.

"I…I don't know, Master Hernan. First, I saw him going upstairs to decorate a few rooms with flowers that he selected for Mistress Geneva. Next, he snapped at me and refused to leave your room…" Carmen stammered.

Hernan and Geneva's popped open in horror when they realized what this probably meant. _Oh, no…_

Without an instant, they ran inside the mansion, with Carmen and Jerome trailing behind. Using all the speed they had, they made their way to the staircase that led upstairs…only for them to be blocked by an angry Fidget who was waiting for them at the bottom of the staircase.

And nobody was kidding when they meant **angry**. Fidget had the darkest angry face he had ever made throughout his entire childhood; even the angry faces he made when his parents punished him for small misbehaving were nothing compared to the one he gave right now. His angry, frowned eyebrows made to perfect shape for an upside down arch. Black shadows grew under his frozen, red irised, golden eyes; it was as if he never slept. He definetly did not have a happy smile and his arms were cross-folded for the very first time. This child meant business.

"You never told me the truth," he said quietly.

" Fidget…w-what do you mean?" Geneva asked anxiously. To answer her question, Fidget thrust something out of his shirt and held it in front of the Denada Cortés and Carmen. The adults were mortified to see that Fidget was holding by the strap the medallion that they had locked away in their cupboard six years ago.

"Fitzgerald, I thought I told you to never open that cupboard…" Hernan began to say firmly.

"Why? So I couldn't find this?" Fidget kept saying angrily as he clenched the medallion in his hands. "Why aren't you telling me the truth? And why are there people like me on that medallion?"

Geneva and Hernan looked at each other nervously. They had hoped that such a day would never come, especially while Fidget was still young. They were now tongue-tied. Fortunately, Carmen took the lead.

"Fidget, do you remember when the ex-commander Pizarro and a few other Aldoradians called you a Batrishan?" she asked as she sat down on a step so that her head could be at the same level than Fidget's.

"Yes." Fidget frowned. "What about it?"

"Do you know what a Batrishan is?"

Fidget shook his head, not noticing Carmen's eyes sending a silent message for Hernan to continue. The latter took a deep breath.

"Batrishans were a unique civilization. Any scholar or knowledge-seeker in the entire world would fight to learn the Batrishans' arts and sciences, which influenced a lot of human cultures," Hernan explained. "The Batrishans…were your people, Fidget."

"What? I'm a Batrishan?" Fidget gasped as his parents nodded. He fell on the steps in shock and Carmen held on to him for support. "But…if I'm a…Batrishan, then how come I'm here?"

"Fidget, we hated lying to you, but we didn't want you to dwell on the misery." Geneva knelt in front of the Batrishan and held his hands as they looked through each other's eyes. "Six years ago, the news reached Aldorada that the homeland of the Batrishans was destroyed by a god. We don't know why it happened, but scouts came back confirming that there was no more Batrishan walking the earth."

"We believed the rumors of the Batrishan extinction until you came, Fitzgerald," Hernan continued. "We don't know how it happened, but somehow, you managed to survive the genocide of your people. And somehow, you managed to be taken away from your homeland and at the other side of the world, where Aldorada is."

"I'll never forget the day we found you," Geneva sighed. "It was on St. Fitzgerald's Day. We were late from mourning to our late son, your brother William, and when we arrived at St Alejandro's Chapel, the tuck had found you at the doorsteps, outside, in the rain."

"But who left me in front of the chapel?" Fidget asked. "I don't understand…"

"Neither do we. But once I saw you in the casket were you were held, I…I knew I wanted you as my son! You were left in the rain, probably cold and hungry, and once you saw me, you…you started laughing happily! How could I refuse the Lord's gift after I lost my first opportunity of being a mother!" Geneva began crying and Fidget began to look horrified. He did just what he never wanted to do: he made his mother upset.

"Mommy! I'm sorry…I didn't mean to make you cry!" He gave his mother a hug. The latter quieted down as she hugged him.

"Fidget, I know it's a lot to take in one day," Hernan said, resting one hand on Fidget's left shoulder, "but your mother and I love you no matter what. We adopted you so that we could all be a happy family and we made sure that you could have the best life possible despite your loss."

"But…what about the medallion thingy?" Fidget asked.

"We noticed it was on your neck when you first came inside this house," Carmen explained. "But when Hernan tried touching it, it started burning his hands, and since we were afraid that you'd suffer the same way, we took it away from you."

"Your mother and I then consulted Melchior, a mage," Hernan continued, "and we were able to learn a little bit about your heritage. The carving on your medallion depicts Batrishans worshipping your people's god, Ashiva, and the gold's value was much richer than 30 carats of gold. It meant that you were born among the priests of your people and are supposed to be the purest of them all."

"But…I thought priests couldn't have kids," Fidget frowned. "And what about the black stain I saw behind my medallion?"

"Melchior said that with the rarest purity came the rarest darkness," Hernan said sadly. "And that, if you succumbed to darkness, Fidget, you'd become the darkest villain in history."

Fidget hugged Geneva, burying his face in her dress.

"I don't want to be a villain! I don't want to!" the poor child cried.

"We know, honey," Geneva caressed her son. "But your father and I tried everything! We tried rubbing the medallion, having a goldsmith examine or melt it, and throwing it down a well. But nothing worked. Your medallion just came back, untouched and with the rooting stain remaining. So we resolved to keeping it locked away in a cupboard."

"I don't blame you for what you did, Mommy," Fidget sniffed as he gave puppy eyes at his mother. "You and Daddy only wanted what was best for me."

"Thank you for understanding, Fidget," Hernan smiled. "We're sorry we didn't tell you the truth sooner."

"And I'm sorry I looked through your stuff. I stumbled on the box while I was looking for a doily to put under the vase that I placed on Mommy's table…"

This made Carmen laugh. "You were looking for a doily? Why, my dear lass, why didn't you just tell me? I keep all the doilies in the kitchen closet where we stack all the table decorations for when we have guests!"

Fidget raised his hands in frustration. "Well how was I supposed to know? Mommy's the only one who makes doilies in this house."

"Good grief, he's starting to talk like Jerome," Hernan chuckled. "Geneva, how shall we punish him?"

"I wonder," Geneva gave a pondering face until an idea popped. "I know!"

She started tickling Fidget's stomach, which made the young Batrishan fall on his back and laugh a lot.

"NO! AAAAAH! PLEA-AAAAAH! NOT THE-AAAAAH TICKLING!" he laughed as he was being assaulted with lovable tickles.

"I agree, Geneva. He needs to be punished with tickles." Hernan joined in the tickling while Carmen sighed at the sight of the happy family.


	12. Goodbye Geneva

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Goodbye Geneva

 _4 years later_

Fitzgerald, now ten-years-old, rode his horse back home at quite a speed. He nearly knocked a peasant's cart on the way, but he was in such a hurry that he didn't have time to excuse himself.

For the last five years since he entered Aldorada's Military Academy, the lad had really done himself. His prodigious skills managed to move him ahead of his peers and had graduated among the seniors while he was ten. And not just that: he had received the royal accord that all soldiers get in Aldorada in order to enter the Aldoradian army as privates. The dream to become a war hero like his father was just beginning.

But it didn't last long. With malaria occurring during the hot seasons, a lot of people had caught it. And all the numerous days of rain didn't help at all. Fidget was lucky to not have been infected by the malaria, but he was deeply infected when a messenger came with distressful news while Fidget was shaking hands with the Academy's council once he got his royal accord.

Geneva got hit the malaria and now the doctor was quite positive that his medicine wouldn't be enough to save her from a certain horrible death.

Fidget rode his stallion across the fields in a hurry until he finally reached the Denada Cortés estate. Once Jerome saw him enter the pathway, he immediately went to his young master so that he could take care of the tired horse while the child rushed inside the mansion.

Just as Fidget approached the staircase, the doctor came downstairs, followed by a distraught Hernan.

"Where's Mom?" Fidget asked.

"In our room," Hernan said. He rested one hand on Fidget's shoulder while he used the other to wipe away tears. "She wants to see you…one last time."

"What? No…" Fidget pulled away from his father's hand. Like Hernan, distraught fell upon him as he turned to the doctor. "Doctor, please tell me this isn't the truth!"

"I'm so sorry my dear boy," the doctor said sadly as he held on to his satchel. "I've tried everything that I could for weeks, but I failed. Lady Geneva's temperature just kept rising. Death will fall upon her in a few minutes. You must see her."

Fidget ran up the stairs, dodging the men without contempt. Tears flooded out of his eyes as he ran down the hall. His mother, his beloved mother, falling at Hades' arms! The wonderful woman who desired more than anything to adopt him when she saw him at St Alejandro's Chapel. The same woman who treated the child as her own son despite the fact that he was a Batrishan.

He burst the door of his parents' bedroom open. Geneva was in her bed, covered by a giant black blanket. Her blonde hair was let loose and spread across her pillow like a sad, flowing river of gold. Her skin was pale and she was terribly sweating and breathing from the malaria. She struggled to open her eyes when she heard Fidget barge in.

"Fidget…" she whispered hoarsely.

"Mom!" Fidget rushed to the side of his coughing mother. "Mom, please! I beg you! Don't leave! Don't leave me now!"

"Fitzgerald, listen to me," the woman said. She turned her head to look at her son and gently held his hand. "You have no idea of how much having you as my son was a blessing for me. Everything that you did in your life has brought happiness and pride to everyone. And that is why you must continue to do so."

"But how can I do this when you're dying?!" Fidget cried.

Geneva smiled weakly as she pulled something out of her nightgown: to Fidget's surprise, it was his medallion. And a bat-like pendant. Even after the heartfelt truth spill four years ago, Fidget was willing to live without his birthright. Seeing it again, especially on the day his mother was dying, was a shock to him.

"I want you to take back what is rightfully yours, Fitzgerald," Geneva said as she continued to smile weakly. "It shows that everything that I believed about you was right. Choose to believe me or not, Fitzgerald, but I always believed that your existence was a sign for the better. You, the child of Batrishan priests, the leaders of your people, survived a massive extinction, was found and adopted at a chapel on a holy day, and brought nothing but light to Aldorada." She tapped at the medallion. "This shows who you were, are, and will become. You must take it back."

"But…what about the darkness?" Fidget stammered. "I thought that you said…"

"We did say what Melchior told us." Geneva coughed. "But Fate cannot decide who you shall become anymore, Fitzgerald. Now, you must choose the path you'll lead. Which is why I got you this." She motioned the bat-like pendant. "I got this for you as a graduation gift. And…I'm glad I could see have it."

Fidget gave her a tearful look before examining the pendant. It looked like a bat in flight, with its wings wide open. He squinted at the wings and noticed that they had carved words that made this sentence:

 _Always fight with love and honor._

Geneva led out a horrible cough. Fidget desperately hugged his mother.

"Please! Don't go yet!"

"Fidget, I love you. I always have. Never forget what I told you. Always fight with love and honor and…be yourself. Be the Batrishan that lives inside of you."

She planted a deep kiss on the child's forehead. The latter cried uncontrollably as he hugged his mother and clung on to her gifts in one fist.

He lifted his head to look at Geneva's loving eyes. She smiled at him. "Goodbye," she whispered. Then, to Fidget's horror, she relaxed her muscles and let go of her last breath.

" **MMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!** " he wailed, tears flooding out of his eyes as the thunder clapped outside.

 _The next day_

Fitzgerald knelt in front of Geneva's grave in St Alejandro's Chapel. Queen Florencia had given condolence recognition to the Denada Cortés by giving a funeral worthy of Geneva Denada Cortés.

Even though the service was done over an hour ago, Fidget didn't move from his kneeling position. He was full of depression as he deposed a bouquet of lilacs at the bottom of her grave.

" _I am sincerely sorry for your loss_ ," a familiar voice said.

Fidget's eyes looked behind him. Kaïra looked the same from the last time he saw her, only she was wearing a golden helmet with cow horns and a ruby at the center. Plus, she was carrying an uprooted daisy in her hands.

"My mother never really liked daisies," Fidget said quietly. The goddess knelt down next to him.

" _I know. And frankly, neither do I_." With only one hand, she managed to dig a dent big enough for her to plant the daisy. " _But a daisy is a traditional flower of respect. Geneva Denada Cortés was a very respectable woman and I respect her for giving you everything that I could never have done."_

"You did nothing wrong. You did exactly what she would have done when I nearly touched that sword." Fidget grimaced as he mentioned the cursed blade.

" _And what would that be? Leading you to the right path?_ " Kaïra asked as she covered the roots with remaining dirt. She and Fidget watched as rain hydrated the newly planted daisy.

"No." Fidget said. "Telling me to be the Batrishan that lives inside of me. I've spent ten years living among humans. I thought it meant that I'm destined to be like one, but instead it helps me realize that my being raised among a species different from mine would strengthen the purpose of my survival during my people's genocide."

The goddess smiled at him. " _You're learning fast, Fitzgerald Denada Cortés. I am proud that I was selected to be your patron_."

Fidget pulled out his medallion and pendant and stared at him. "Questions are still filling my head, but I can tell that now's not the right time to ask them."

" _Indeed. Your first battle is still ahead of you_." Kaïra gently took his necklaces and held them in her hands. " _And what are you going to do about it?_ "

Fidget stood up and looked at his mother's grave one last time before answering the goddess: "I will fight with love and honor in memory of those I love."

" _Well said_." A flash of red light appeared for a few seconds as Kaïra clenched the pendant and medallion in her hand. When it was done, she held out the result and placed it around the neck of a now determined looking Batrishan.

" _Rise, Fitzgerald Denada Cortés. Your steps to becoming the Batrishan Prince of Darkness have begun!_ "

Thunder clapped as Kaïra said those words. Light flashed as the medallion flipped its sides, one of them being the original one with a praised Ashiva. But on the other side was the result of a fusion between the medallion's dark side and the bat pendant: a volumed carving of a flying bat with the medallion's darkness locked inside it. The wings had a gothic carving of the sentence they guarded.

 _Always fight with love and honor._


	13. The Batrishan & The Battlefield

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The Batrishan & The Battlefield

"You nervous?"

A soldier standing next to Fidget asked the ten-year-old private this question as they were waiting in formation on the battlefield, waiting for the right moment to strike the opposing army in the valley where the battlefield was taking place.

"I won't be nervous if I die during my first battle," Fidget said rather sarcastically as he clenched on to his sword. The soldier chuckled.

"That's the spirit, kid. I almost had the same reaction during my first battle and it never got old even after five to seven years of service."

The Aldoradian alarm horn sounded, announcing the beginning of the battle.

"Well, kid…good luck."

And it began: the very first battle for Fitzgerald Denada Cortés as a private in the Aldoradian army. The sky was gray as the Aldoradian army charged towards the army of Eastern invaders in order to claim the battlefield as part of their nation's empire. Screams were heard as soldiers clashed among one another, fighting or killing one another. Cannons were heard being fired up. Explosions paraded on the earth, sending dirt flying.

This is what Fidget was seeing as he raced into the battlefield. He had never seen such violence in his life. It was almost as if the peaceful world he lived in shattered ever since Geneva died. Fidget almost wanted to shut his eyes and give up instantly…

 _Your first battle is still ahead of you…_

 _Always fight with love and honor…_

 _Rise…Batrishan Prince of Darkness!_

A sudden flame rose into Fidget's mind and a black vision filled his eyes as he glared at the battlefield. He grabbed his sword and held it high as he charged at the battlefield. Without any hesitation, he slashed one deadly sword strike at ten men in a row. All at once, they formed one last breath of life and a scream of horror before dying.

Such a giant scream attracted the nearby soldiers, Aldoradian and not-Aldoradian, that they stopped fighting to see what happened. The enemy soon realized that it was a rather bad idea to stay still, for Fidget didn't stay still: he charged at the Eastern invaders and attacked them all with strikes similar to the one he used before.

"What on earth?" Hernan exclaimed. He and the other Aldoradian officials were standing on a hill in order to observe and operate the Aldoradian army to see how things were going. When Hernan saw Fidget fighting above the normal through his telescope, he didn't know what to think. Was Fidget fighting to become a hero for Aldorada? Or was he becoming a monster?

"Your son is practically a one man army!" one of the generals exclaimed.

Indeed, the general was right: nothing seemed to be stopping Fidget at the moment. He kept slashing ten men at a time with his sword. His movements were so agile that it seemed like he was a bird of prey flying through a herd of preys in the middle of the night.

"You think he could give us all an early retirement?" one of the Aldoradian soldiers asked his nearby comrade who was too dumbfounded to even shrug.

It seemed like forever for Fidget, but for the others, it was like a five-minute show that lasted until eventually, there were a thousand dead Eastern invaders filling the valley. The Eastern general, who had observed from his cliff, knew instantly that the non-human Aldoradian Batrishan must be destroyed at once. But of course, the battle wasn't taking place without Kaïra observing the event, and when the winds blew to ears that a certain general was going to have her mortal champion killed, she flew back a warning breeze at him.

" _A quick death you shall have at Fidget's hands if your army still withstands._ "

Everybody in every realm knows that supernatural events shouldn't be disregarded, especially if they are messages from deities. Fearing the gods' wrath if he didn't listen, the Eastern general immediately had his troops retreat and surrendered to the Aldoradian army.

 _Time skip_

"What you did out there was dangerous, Fitzgerald!" Hernan scolded Fidget. They had barely returned to Aldorada two days after their 'victory' and Queen Florencia summoned them once she heard the descriptions of the battle and Fidget's actions.

"I know I must have…overreacted," Fidget said calmly, "but at least Aldorada won."

"Aldorada winning isn't the issue here!" Hernan retorted. He pointed at Fidget's chest, where his medallion was hanging. "Remember when we returned this to you? Remember what Melchior said? Should you succumb to darkness, then villainy shall consume you!"

He paced back and forth in the waiting room while Fidget sat quietly, guilty of having forgotten that tiny detail. Hernan took a deep breath before kneeling in front of Fidget and putting his hands on the private's shoulders.

"Fitzgerald, please understand. I've already lost my barely born son William and my wife Geneva. I can't afford to lose you as well! You're my only family left!"

"But I just wanted to live up to what I promised Mom and serve Aldorada…" Fidget said, retaining his tears. He needed to be strong, just as he promised to Geneva.

A guard came and told them that the Queen was waiting for them in the throne room. The Cortés didn't say a word as they entered the golden room and bowed before her Majesty, who was sitting on her royal throne. She dismissed the guards, leaving her alone with the Cortés, and got up in order to walk in front of the soldiers.

"I heard of what you've done on the battlefield, Fitzgerald," she told the Batrishan with a stern voice. "You shed more blood than any new private has ever done in Aldoradian history."

Fidget felt sweat on his forehead as he heard the Queen's words. He feared the worst as she began to approach him until she rested a hand on his right shoulder.

"Yet, you have done above the extraordinary and managed to bring Aldorada to an easy victory much faster than you already have," she said, her voice full of pride. The Batrishan quietly lifted his head up to look at her smiling sincerely before she moved on to Hernan.

"As for you, Commander Hernan, see to it that this brave private, your son, eventually becomes your second-in-command. Aldorada will need him in the future."

Unbeknown to the humans, Kaïra was watching from the windows as Hernan and Fidget thanked the Queen and were excused. The goddess was proud that her Batrishan champion was beginning his success in the army with prodigious results, but also worried at how quickly Aldorada would crumble should Fidget fall into darkness. One thought in her head was for sure as she turned into a raven and flew off: with what Fitzgerald Denada Cortés just demonstrated on the battlefield, the steps to his destiny as the Batrishan Prince Of Darkness would begin sooner than expected.


	14. Break Between Zadnji and Vjero

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Break Between Zadnji and Vjero

 _Still on the same day of the apocalyptic future at the Shrine Of Fidget The Bat_

Vjero lit the few candles that he placed in front of his ancestor's foundation. He and Zadnji had taken a break from recounting the story of their ancestor so that they could deposit offerings for his statue. As soon as the floor was full of two wine glasses containing bull blood, a roast pig being burned in purple flames, and lit candles, Vjero and Zadnji sat on nearby steps in order to have their own lunch. Yes, it was like sharing a meal with their deceased ancestor.

"Papa, what was it like for him?" the young Batrishan asked the older one as the latter handed him a sandwich made of dry bread, lettuce, and cheese.

"What do you mean?" Vjero asked.

"For Fidget. I mean, his life wasn't the one _he_ chose to have. It was gods and other people who made everything so that he'd become the Batrishan Prince Of Darkness. He never asked for that life, right?"

Vjero looked at the statue of his ancestor. For a second, it almost seemed as if the angry statued Batrishan was somehow telling him: ' _You know the kids right_ '.

"You're very right, Zadnji," he answered. "His fate wasn't chosen by himself. Superior beings did. And whenever he made a decision of his own…it only led him closer to his doomed fate."

"I think that Geneva's death is the part that I disliked the most. She was awfully nice…like Mama."

"Yes. And like Mama, she thought that keeping her Batrishan son unaware of his doomed heritage would be his salvation…until she died, confessing her error."

Vjero and Zadnji sadly sighed in unison. It was true that Zadnji's mother feared that her son's Batrishan heritage would lead him to a doomed fate after she heard his ancestor's tale, so she tried to raise Zadnji as a human. Of course, it eventually proved to be useless, and she admitted her error and defeat barely before the plague affected her.

"I don't think our ancestor's spirit is resting, Papa," Zadnji said, cuddling his head in fear on his father's chest.

"You're right." Vjero said before placing a finger on his son's lips. "Listen."

The Batrishans remained quiet and held out their bat-like ears. At first, it seemed like the only noise that could be heard was the one made by the flickering flames of the statues' torches and the offering candles, but then something like a whisper came. The whisper doubled, then troubled, and increased to a thousand whispers making eerie, wispy sounds that echoed through the shrine's walls and columns.

"I hear them," Zadnji said. "They remind me of the will-o'-the-wisps that we saw back in Dunbroch."

"Yes, they do sound like the wisps," Vjero leaned closer to his son as the flames kept flickering in the dark shrine. "But they aren't lights that guide you to your fate. No, they're the remnants of our ancestor's regrets and spites. Most of them are remnants of him regretting of losing the precious, happy life that he grew up in to a sorrowful one full of darkness, evil, and vengeance, which he never asked for."

"Do those remnants also contain anger? Like, anger to the gods?"

"Some of them."

They stayed quiet for another few minutes until the whispering remnants officially disappeared, leaving the two Batrishans to finish their lunch.

"Looks like our ancestor finished every bit of the offering," Vjero said, looking at the spot in front of Fitzgerald's statue's foundation. The wine glasses and the roast pig's silvery plate were filled with nothing but ashes. Even the candles lost their lights. "His resting must have made him hungry."

"Papa, please tell me the rest of his tale," Zadnji tugged his father's shirt. "Don't tell about the part where Captain Hook came. I already know that one."

"Everybody does," Vjero said. "Well…"

And he continued in the tale of Fidget the Bat.


	15. The Royal Couple

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The Royal Couple

 _Aldorada, back in 1773_

Fidget stood in front of his mother's grave in the courtyard of St. Alejandro's Chapel. Six years ago, the grave was just a new addition slightly buried in the center of a patch of dirt with Kaïra's daisy planted in the front. Now, it was on clear grass. The original daisy had proliferated, with vines growing upward on the grave's sides as younger daisies bloomed. The Batrishan put down a bouquet of lilacs in front of Geneva's grave, just bellow the beloved woman's name.

"How I miss you, Mother," he sighed as he made the symbol of the Christian cross over his chest. Friar Andre then began to ring the bells of the Chapel, indicating that it was now three in the afternoon.

"I'd best be off," Fidget said as he put his purple-and-black military tricorn back on his head. "I'm expected at the Royal Palace." He slightly bowed at the grave and walked out the courtyard, gently closing the iron gates behind him, and found his horse waiting for him. Fidget mounted on the beast and raced to the Palace, encountering a few peasants saluting him.

"Lord Fitzgerald! How are you doing?"

"Congratulations on your last victory!"

"Thank you for the prosperity you brought to every Aldoradian!"

Six years had passed since Fitzgerald Denada Cortés had joined the military. Success had followed the Batrishan, who was recently promoted to the rank of First Class Navy Sergeant by the Queen, thus granting him troops to guide to victory, while his father Hernan became General. With all the profit and new territories that the nation received from the father and son's endless victories, Aldorada was living an era of peace and prosperity that no one ever knew. All the citizens loved the Batrishan, who showed both modesty and generosity. He never bragged about his triumphs and mostly gave the credit to his fellow soldiers, and whatever money he received as royal reward he would donate it to the local charity services. Why, he even donated most of his childhood possessions to the children at the orphanages except for those that he valued most since they were linked to his mother.

"Good morning, Sergeant Fitzgerald!" a beggar called while Fidget was riding his horse through the city. The Batrishan stopped his steed in order to hat with the beggar.

"Hello, my friend," he said amiably. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

"It is. And where are you off to now?"

"I have an appointment at the Palace. Nothing much." Fidget pulled out a small bag full of coins and handed it to the beggar. "Here you go, my friend. Hopefully you might buy some bread with this."

"Thank you, my so-ever generous lord. May God himself be with you wherever you go." The two gave another a friendly good day before Fidget rode off.

"Look! It's Sergeant Fitzgerald Denada Cortés!" a young woman said in glee.

"Gosh, isn't he handsome?" another one squealed.

As the years grew by, the Batrishan had grown into a very handsome sixteen-year-old officer. His long, dark hair was well groomed and tied back in a ponytail, his body was well-built and slightly muscular. His purple-and-black Aldoradian military outfit was clean, with his medals polished, causing the sunlight to shine on him. Even his bat-like features didn't seem so scary. For some, he was a purer version of darkness, but most of the ladies saw him as a better version of Adonis with a mysterious background.

Once he arrived at the gates of the Royal Palace, all the royal guards gave him the military salute and let him in. A squire was sent to take Fitzgerald's horse to the stables while he went inside the palace.

"Good day, Sergeant Denada Cortés," Alvaro, the royal family's head butler welcomed the Batrishan.

"Hello, Alvaro," Fidget said. "I have a rendezvous with Prince Pablo and Princess Isabella."

"Of course. Right this way." And the two of them walked down through a series of golden halls full of portraits, paintings, statues, exotic plants and furniture, and more. As they walked, Fidget asked Alvaro how his brother Alphonse, a lieutenant whom Fidget knew from his at Aldorada's Military Academy and was on friendly terms with, was. Alvaro gratefully told Fidget that Alphonse was doing well and he was now on a short vacation at their Aunt Juanita's cottage in the countryside.

Finally, Alvaro led the Batrishan to a small garden where Pablo was watching his sister Isabella practice archery. The royal children had grown as well: Pablo had become an average-sized, yet muscular, blond man with a short haircut, while Isabella had grown into a lovely young woman with long golden hair, a slender figure that was well proportioned, and lovely green eyes that sparkled than her brother's…even though he was born with similar green eyes.

Alvaro didn't have to announce Fidget's arrival, for Pablo briefly turned his head away from his sister shooting straight into the bull's eye and saw his best childhood friend standing next to the butler.

"Fitzgerald! So great to see you!" the prince said happily as he rushed to embrace the Batrishan.

"It's great to see you again, Pablo," the latter said once they were done embracing.

"How was the battle against the army of Agrabah's sultan?"

"It lasted for only thirty some hours. But aside from that, we made a truce since-let's be frank-the desert was getting too dirty from local casualty blood. As a result, each side has an even split on the spoils of war…"

"FIDGET!" The Sergeant was cut off when Isabella suddenly gave him a big bear hug, slightly suffocating him. "I'm so delighted to see you!"

"Yes…but…can't breathe!" he stammered as he tried to breathe for air.

"Saint Mary, Isabella!" Pablo said in an annoyed tone as he managed to pull his sister away from their friend, who was now taking a series of fast breaths in order to fill his lungs with air. "You'll end up being the death of him before any war does!"

"I'm fine, Pablo," Fidget breathed. "The rest of my life is still awaiting me."

"Good. I'd hate for our best friend to die from my sister's constricting arms."

"Hey!" Isabella retorted as her twin chuckled at his little joke.

"Pardon me, your Majesty," Alvaro cut in after a pageboy whispered him something in the ear, "but your mother the Queen desires to speak with you privately."

Pablo sighed as he headed back for the palace, sad that he was requested right when his best friend just arrived. "I'm coming." And to Isabella and Fidget, he said: "Wait for me, alright?"

"Of course," Fidget said.

"Yes, brother," Isabella said. As soon as Pablo went inside and Alvaro had his back turned on them, Isabella pulled Fidget by the arm. "Come on," she whispered excitedly and the two headed towards the royal labyrinth, unaware that Alvaro was chuckling at their little escapade.

"Young love."

 _Time skip_

"You remember of the first time we came here together?" Isabella asked when she and Fitzgerald stepped inside the unchanged secret garden from their childhood years.

"How can I forget?" Fitzgerald chuckled. Indeed, he had childhood memories of his times with the royal twins. The sweetest ones were always those involving him and Isabella. For as the years passed, Fidget had grown to love the Aldoradian princess for her sweet, fun-loving, yet patriotic, nature. "You showed me your dreams of having a happily ever after."

"With you," Isabella sighed dreamily.

"And I gave you one of these." Fidget picked up a lilac from the ocean of everlasting flowers and held it up to his nose, smelling its fragrant, purple perfume. "You also teased me with…"

The Batrishan didn't finish his sentence, for the princess planted him a soft kiss on the lips. A warm feeling was filling his soul as he quickly planted the lilac in the fair maiden's hair in order to have his arms free to embrace her and return her passionate gesture of true love with sincerity. The couple was living a midsummer night's dream even when they broke the kiss.

"I love you…Fidget the Bat," Isabella said enamored. The Sergeant smiled back at her before kneeling down and revealing a box containing a purple diamond ring, making the princess gasp in overjoyed surprise.

"For you, milady, I would fight mountains."


	16. Broken Wing And Cursed Immortality

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Broken Batrishan And Cursed Immortality

 _1774, after the events on Discordia's Isle_

Somewhere in a nice, peaceful clearing in the east far from Aldorada, an old man was tending the vegetables in his garden. His cabbages were green, his tomatoes well protected from bugs, his potatoes protected by the rich soil of Mother Earth, etc. In other words, it was just another peaceful day for him, and for that he was content.

Once he was done watering his garden's vegetables, the old man grabbed his watering can and began walking back towards his cottage until he saw something dark falling from the sky. At first, he assumed it was just some raven flying by until he sensed a dark aura of energy coming from the thing and realized that it was falling straight towards the ground. It crashed in a thicket about ten feet away from the men's cottage, causing about a dozen of nearby trees to fall and unleash a booming sound that shooed away nearby birds.

The old man grabbed his walking staff and walked towards the forest. He walked through rows of trees and bushes for about three minutes until he found the area where the thing crash-landed. And what a sight it was! A giant clump of land had been burned to ash, turning it a black wasteland with small signs of black flames. There were several chunks of fallen trees or burned leaves around the place. It was such a pity for the man, since this forest was very lovely.

He walked towards the center of the area, tight where the thing landed. Once he saw what lay in front of him, he dropped his staff in shock.

"Merlin almighty..." he gasped when he saw the dark Batrishan in a black-and-purple Aldoradian military outfit with a torn right wing and several cuts on his skin laying unconscious on the ground.

 _Time skip_

Remembering the sight of Isabella and Hernan's bloody corpses right next to Killian holding a bloody sword made Fitzgerald scream himself awake.

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!** " he screamed through the top of his lungs. He lifted his back rather harshly, which sent a wave of pain throughout his body. "Ouch!"

Fitzgerald tried touching his back, only for him to feel a punch of needles pinned on his sides and the bat wings that sprouted for the first time in his life when he had unleashed his anger upon Killian, which ended up with the treacherous lieutenant ripping his right wing.

"I wouldn't touch so much if I were you," an elderly voice said. Fidget looked to see an old man in a red tunic with a beard as old as time. The man sat on a stool right next to the small hay bed where the Batrishan was laying. A very uncomfortable position, really, since Fitzgerald grew up sleeping in comfy pillows and blankets and occasionally the bunks while fighting in wars.

The old man began pulling out one by one the needles that were sticking onto the injured Fitzgerald, stinging as painfully as a wasp's sting.

"Ouch!" Fidget cried. "What was that for?"

"My apologies," the old man said. "But Chinese acupuncture was the only way I could restore your qi to normal. As for your wing...I managed to have a blacksmith help me create a mechanism that will help you fly normally...but might cause you to slightly limp."

The Batrishan looked confusingly at the old man before the latter motioned with his head at the Batrishan's right wing, which was sprouted open just like the other one in order for Fitzgerald to lay more comfortably on the bed. Fitzgerald looked melancholically at his crippled wing: the _phalanges_ were half crushed and most of his wing membrane was ripped. The only thing that he saw at the place of his missing membranes was some sort of metallic brace, with long artificial bones made of steel that looked more like blades than real bones. To replace his missing wing membrane, some sort of silk metal similar to the chainmail used in a knight's armor was used to replace it. Just for the sake of it, Fidget tried flapping his wing through concentration. The wing flapped and so did the metallic brace in synchronization. It was as if the brace had been a part of his body since forever.

The old man gently put a hand on the wing, making it to flapping and lowering it down.

"It would be best if you do not waste your energy yet, my young Batrishan," he said. "For judging by how you received your wings, you are an exception among your kind."

"I know, I know..." Fitzgerald grumbled. "I'm an exception because I survived a genocide, am I child of the Batrishan priests, and happen to have a cursed fate. I know that already!"

"Do you? Because members of your kind usually doesn't get their wings through anger and rage. Matter of fact, I've never seen a Batrishan as hostile as you are." He snapped his fingers and a wet cloth appeared in his hands. Fidget watch quietly as the old man patted his head with the cloth.

"You aren't one bit afraid that I used magic in front of you," the old man noted.

"I've seen a weird sword that reacts to pain, a medallion that symbolizes my half-split destiny, and a goddess claiming to know me long before I was adopted by my human parents," Fitzgerald sighed. "What could be weirder than an old man summoning a wet cloth?"

"I see. Well, it's a good thing that you aren't afraid of me, especially since I'm a sorcerer's apprentice."

"Tiny question, out of pure curiosity. How long have I been unconscious?"

"Since you crashed into the woods and destroyed quite a portion of the trees? About half a week."

"ABOUT HALF A WEEK?" Fitzgerald jumped on his bed. "I'VE BEEN UNCONSCIOUS FOR HALF A WEEK?"

"Easy there!" the apprentice said, putting his hands on the Batrishan's shoulders. "Last thing you want is to twist your back!"

"HE KILLED THEM! I'LL MAKE HIM PAY! I DON'T CARE IF IT TAKES ME AN ETERNITY TO GET IT, BUT I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON THAT CODFISH!"

"And you might," the apprentice told the Batrishan, who looked at him in surprise.

 _About an hour later_

Fitzgerald was sitting at the apprentice's table eating from a bowl of porridge that the old man had given him until the latter came back, carrying a crystal shaped bottle full of ominous green liquid in his hands. Judging by how the liquid seemed so...alive in the bottle, the Batrishan could tell that this meant serious business.

"This...is the Elixir of Nine Lives," the apprentice said as he placed it on the table. "Back in the Antiquity, the last Batrishan Prince, Bartok Ashiva Rex, was given this elixir by a coven of Batrishan witches so that he could live a long life in order to see the world once he abdicated the throne. But accepting the elixir from the witches and drinking cost him to speed up his father's death."

"How come?" Fitzgerald asked.

"All magic comes with a price, my young Batrishan. And so does eternal life. Accepting the immortality from the Elixir of Nine Lives means causing the deaths of your loved ones. But each sip taken from it prolongs the drinker's life expectancy nine times and put an end to aging. Drink from this will give you all the time in the world to seek your revenge on the one you hate most. Plus, you shall be...immortal."

Tempted by the idea of revenge, the Batrishan began to reach out his hand towards the bottle until he stopped himself. "What exactly does the name 'Nine Lives' stand for?" he asked.

"As you know, being immortal does not been that it can last forever; immortals like the Dark One and a few occasional gods can be killed. Take a sip of the elixir once every decade until you've drunk nine sips total and you shall have an everlasting immortality that will only end if _you_ kill yourself." The old man sighed as he leaned a bit on his chair. "Bartok only drank five sips of the Elixir of Nine Lives until he was overwhelmed with remorse at sight of all his loved ones outside of the Batrishan Sanctuary lose their lives while his immortality increased. He gave me what was left of the elixir, hoping that I'd keep anyone from using it, and sealed the elixir's formula with him at the cottage he resides."

"Resides?" Fitzgerald said. "He still lives? Oh, wait. Of course, he's immortal."

"Yes, he currently resides in the Valley of A Thousand Whispers. If you want to drink more than the four sips left in the vial, you're going to have to go get the formula from him."

"But why are you telling me all this if you were supposed to keep anyone from using it again?"

"Because you, Fitzgerald Denada Cortés, aren't just anyone. You have a traced fate that will change the worlds and everyone in it forever other than just getting your revenge. Besides, you've already lost your loved ones, which is already like a paid price. What else do you have to lose...or love?"

Fitzgerald stared once more at the crystal vial and its live content. He had lost his mother, his father, his best friend, his true love, his country, and his auntie. Now he was most likely a monster to the eyes of those who once venerated him as a hero for his glorious deeds. And that blasted Killian Jones...that cursed pirate who ruined everything...he would pay dearly as Fitzgerald ripped him physically and mentally piece by piece.

"I have nothing left to lose or love," he said as he snatched the vial, uncorked it and began drinking from it. It tasted so foul as if he had swallowed a kettle full of boiling oil and vinegar. But something inside of him prevented him from stopping and the liquid continued to pour down the inside of his throat.

"No! Don't!" the apprentice shouted as he grabbed Fitzgerald by the arms and tried to shake him back to reason. "Overdrinking it will have a dark impact on your heart..." He then felt something made of crystal hit him on the head and the apprentice fell unconscious on the floor with shards of the now empty crystal vial lying around him.

"Too bad," Fidget sneered coldly as his tongue licked his lips in order to catch remains of the elixir. He walked towards the door and opened it to reveal the outside world. "Because Fidget The Bat will now have forever to plan and seek his merciless revenge."

He sprung his wings open and flew into the dark gray clouds of despair, laughing from above the echoes.


	17. Reunion With The Blade

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Reunion With The Blade

A bare wasteland full of dried earth, hazardous stone ruins, black clouds, and fiery remains.

Those were the main remains of Aldorada when Fidget returned home after about half a year since he left the cottage of the Apprentice and saw the remains of his homes.

It was a living nightmare for him: flying over this apocalyptic, once glorious nation, seeing the skeletons of a thousand civilians, soldiers and aristocrats laying in the streets as if they were mere piles of coal, walking in the rumble of where Aldorada's Military Academy once stood...Fidget internally screamed to himself. Even the sight of the dried corpse of Queen Florencia, cut in half, dispersed everywhere in the throneroom, was a sour sight.

The Denada Cortés Estate, the cherished place he once grew in, somehow managed to survive the catastrophe. But the people in there didn't: when Fidget walked inside the house he lived in, the hallways where he'd run and play happily, the living room where he and his parents spent quality time together, his bedroom where his mother would tell him bedtime stories, and the kitchen where Auntie Carmen cooked delicious meals, he saw that while the non-living things survived, none of the staff or household animals were seen moving. They all looked like they had been intoxicated by some plague that caused them to have their skins dry out, the air in their lungs disintegrate, and their eyes lose the life within them. Jerome's corpse was being crushed by those of two horses in the stables, thus becoming the feast of ravens. Fidget bared his fangs at the vermins, causing them to fly off in fright.

Poor Auntie Carmen...She had been in the middle of plucking and preparing a chicken to roast until she died. Her body was lying in the kitchen, with her hands clutching onto a bloody knife and chicken. Stains of blood could be seen on her apron and a look of dead horror was on her father.

The Batrishan dropped on his knees and hugged the lifeless body of the kind cook who had nursed him since he was an infant. A bloody scream of agony and pain exploded out of his mouth and vibrated across the dead nation.

 _An hour later_

Friar Andre rushed to the abandoned Denada Cortés Estate after he had heard a scream that reminded him of someone he had discovered at the doorsteps of St. Alejandro's Chapel seventeen years ago. The scream was like the vibration of a knell to his ears. It had been such a long time since the downfall of Aldorada. For some reason, the Chapel, the Denada Cortés Estate, and St. Martha's cemetery were the only areas untouched by the tragic event.

When he arrived at the estate, Friar Andre looked around to see if there were any suspicious activities going on. For a moment, he silently hoped that the young Denada Cortés master had returned. Friar Andre had prayed to the Lord that he spared Fitzgerald; for he knew once he saw Hernan and Geneva Denada Cortés adopting the unfortunate orphan back at the Chapel that only something decided by God could have granted the Batrishan survival from his people's genocide.

On the mansion floors and garden soils, the friar noticed a few marks...as if something had been dragged around. He followed the marks until it led him in a grand courtyard, made only of grassy square yards, behind the mansion, and froze at the sight that lay in front of him: lined up rows of wooden makeshift gravestones, each with a big pile of fresh dirt in front of them. Obviously, these graves were recently created.

Friar Andre walked through the rows and noticed that each grave had a stone laid in front of it, saying a person's name and the function they once held. It didn't take long for the old man to realize that those were the graves of the deceased staff members, even the stable horses, of the Denada Cortés. This definetly confirmed that someone had recently visited the mansion.

At the center stood a circular area with only one stone in it. There were words carved on it, but unlike the other stones, this one looked like some sort of skilled beast had used its claws to write the following words in shattering letters:

 _ **All Here Shall Be Avenged**_

Not to mention that there was some sort of stain shaped like a signature under the words. It was bad enough that the signature was made out of some sort of black blood.

It was the signature of Fitzgerald Denada Cortés.

 _Later on_

Fidget stood at the dreaded altar he once went as a child. The silver cage, imprisoning the Blade That Rips Through The Soul, was untarnished, as if someone had come every single day to polish it and make it look sparklingly clean.

Thunder clashed in the air as Fidget clenched his fist in the air and brought it down like a thundering hammer, breaking the cage with only one blow and sending chunks of silver flying around until they covered the grass like mirror shards.

 _ **Let me be yours**_ , the blade whispered in its hissing and entrancing tone.

"I shall," the Batrishan said. His hand began to way towards the sword's grip until the voice of a desperate Friar Andre interrupted his action.

"FITZGERALD! DON'T!"

The Batrishan turned his head in order to see the Friar. The human looked desperate from running all the way from the Denada Cortés Estate to the cursed ruins beyond St. Martha's Cemetery.

"You shouldn't have come here, Friar," the Batrishan said. Friar Andre was shocked by the sudden coldness found in the young thing's voice but tried to keep his composure.

"Fitzgerald, don't do this," he pleaded. "Accepting the blade will only increase your heart's darkness. The purpose of your survival...the efforts your parents made..."

"My parents are dead," Fidget snapped. "My true love is gone. My home is destroyed. All because of one codfish who betrayed my trust, my friendship, and me. He'll pay _savagely_ , mark my words."

"Fitzgerald, only the Lord can punish the guilty and spare the innocent ones." Friar Andre went to place a hand on the Batrishan's shoulder. "Let go of that anger that will only bring you more internal pain than to others. Don't accept the blade."

"How can I accept more pain when I have nothing left?" The voice of Fidget was so quiet that it made the friar let go of his shoulder. The next thing he saw was the Batrishan brutally turning towards him and impaling the unfortunate friar right in the stomach with the cursed sword. Blood spread all over the old man's body as Fidget yanked away the sword and kicked the dead corpse, watching it roll down the altar stairs.

"As long as I don't have the codfish's blood on this sword," he said as he used his spare fingers to wipe off the blood on the blade, "I'll embrace being evil."

He held his bloody hand in the air, watching it brighten as the blasting sun settled in the horizon.

"Long live Fidget The Bat." He put his fingers in his mouth one by one until the blood on them went through his throat.


	18. The Reunion

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The Reunion

 _About five years later_

"And there goes one other round lost to you, mate!" Captain Killian Jones chuckled as he tossed his deck of cards onto the table. His crew's cheers rung among the noises heard in the tavern while Milah, Killian's right-hand mate and lover, placed a kiss onto his cheek.

"Well, mate, looks like you're going low on the doubloons," Killian chuckled as he began collecting his newly won coins from the center of the table. "Would you like a rematch, or are you too afraid to lose your own ship?" He and his crew snickered in unison as his opponent drank from his mug of rum.

"Lose the Black Pearl?" he asked as his eyebrow arched. "Nay, mate. You deserve much better than my boring old ship." His hands went down under the table and brought onto the wooden surface a silk satchel. "Have a peak in it."

Killian looked at Milah and urged her to look first. The woman grabbed the satchel, unraveled the cord that kept it shut, and had a peek. A dim, yet illuminating red light came out of it. One at a time, the pirates had a glance into the satchel until Killian was the last to have a peek.

"The Devil's Eye," he said in disbelief as he gave it back to the pirate. "How'd you find it, Sparrow?"

"My crew and I had to go through perilous seas and storms until we reached the dreaded Devil's Bayou, where it was held," Sparrow said. His fingers full of rings walked towards the diamond and caressed it. "We've been lucky for the last three years, me and my crew: such valuable diamonds like the Devil's Eye have been rewarded to us for our sailings."

"How much you've got?" Milah asked, her eyes craving for the diamond.

"About two chests full of 'em in my ship," Sparrow told her before turning back to Killian. "Jones, old chap. You've been quite the hospitable chap since our crews have arrived here in Port Muerte. Bothering to pay for ten mugs of rum and asking for fair repay? Why take such lame doubloons while you can have half of the diamonds from my chests?"

It seemed very tempting for Captain Jones and his crew: an assortment of diamonds like the Devil's Eye could make them rich beyond comparison. However, the captain didn't exactly trust Sparrow fully, for he was a pirate captain known for being rather witty and frolicking with death like an eel easily slipping out of a fisherman's grasp and back into the water. The idea of Sparrow willing to give half of his treasures to another pirate captain seemed very unlikely.

But Captain Jones chose to play things his way and make a fool out of Sparrow once and for all. "It's a deal," he declared.

Sparrow grinned. "Shall we say at the break of dawn in Hangman's Alley?"

 _The next day at dawn_

"Killian, how certain are we that this plan might work?" Milah asked as she, Killian, and most of their crew hid in the shadows behind a couple barrels and observed The Black Pearl, Sparrow's precious ship, sitting peacefully above the waters and right at the port.

It was a simple plan: while five pirates replaced Killian to the rendezvous point with Sparrow and disposed of the latter, the rest would take over the ship and shanghai everyone on it to join the Jolly Roger's crew or to walk the plank.

"Let's go," Killian ordered. He and his pirates then stormed their way towards the Black Pearl and climbed their way to the main deck...

Only to find Sparrow lying onto the mast.

They had fallen into a trap, but they realized it too late, for several other pirates hopped out of nowhere and surrounded the intruders, who began to pull out their weapons.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," Sparrow warned. "Things could be left hanging around here."

His words didn't make any sense at first until Killian noticed something red and circular appearing on the main deck. Then another. And another. Soon it seemed like red rain was falling onto the deck similar to how water falls off a willow tree after it rained as you shake it.

Killian's eyes dared to look up and saw five bodies hanging from the sails as if Hangman had chosen to perform an improper execution. As the tight nooses around their dead necks dangled in the air, more of that red rain came. A rain of blood...coming from the five pirates that Killian had sent earlier to Hangman's Alley.

"What have you done to them?" Milah gritted her teeth.

"Sparrow did nothing to them," a dark voice said. The ship's main cabin door opened and out came a dark figure. Killian's eyes popped open as he recognized the figure that had come closer and closer. "I did."

"F-Fitzgerald?" Killian gasped.

"Surprised to see me, codfish?" the Batrishan asked. Fitzgerald looked so much different than the last time Killian had seen him: his long, black hair was still groomed, but had traveled all the way down the hips in a messy form of darkness. His purple-and-black clothes were styled in a way that both looked like his old Aldoradian First Class Navy Sergeant uniform and a pirate's outfit. His fingernails were sharper, thus giving them more claw-like features. Red marks, symbols of tiredness, could be seen above his eyes.

The scariest part so far were his wings, both large and sprung open out of his back like those of a demon. But while the left one looked healthy, the other looked it had been half-ripped and replaced by some sort of mechanism. Killian was shocked to see the appearance of his old friend, a once heroic militant who loyally served his country and related well with Killian, to some sort of rogue Batrishan whose eyes shot hatred and anger at the man he wrongly accused of killing his fiancée and foster father.

"Killian, do you know him?" Milah asked her lover.

"Aye," Killian said as he watched Fitzgerald march up the main deck, glaring at the 'intruders' with his sinister red irises. "Fitzgerald Denada Cortés, the infamous First Class Navy Sergeant of the extinct Aldorada. We were friends..."

"And some friend you turned out to be!" Fitzgerald snorted. "Oh, let me guess. She's another woman that you used to ruin someone else's life?" He pointed at Milah. "Wasn't her husband's name Rumplestiltskin? And her son Baelfire?"

Milah's mouth dropped. "H...how did you know that?"

"Allow me," Sparrow said. "Rumors spread very quickly in Tortuga, the pirate haven. After you made your first visit to Tortuga before hitting the large sea with Jones on the Jolly Roger, the rumor spread quickly of the woman who ditched her husband and ten-year-old son for some pirate captain who romanced her in a tavern. Funny thing that eventually occurred: right after I had shared the rumors and a couple mugs of rum with other pirate captains, a charming fellow then came to me asking about the rumors."

"And we've made a deal," Fitzgerald grinned smugly as his clawed hand gave a friendly pat on the back to Sparrow, who grinned back. "Jack Sparrow would eventually help me lure Captain Killian Jones, the blasted codfish, into my clutches while I, in return, helped Sparrow track down all the jewels in the world that he could ever ask for."

"And what was the purpose of killing five of my men?" Killian asked, horrified at what has happened to his old friend. What he saw right now was the image that every outsider feared whenever they saw Fitzgerald physically.

A monster.

"Your men?" Fitzgerald briefly looked up at the dangling corpses before returning his attention to Killian. "That was just me being hungry...for revenge and your death."


	19. The Bloody Amputation

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The Bloody Amputation

Most of the pirates from Killian's crew trembled as Fitzgerald walked rather calmly on the puddles of bloods the deck now had. The Batrishan's red footprints staining the wooden planks didn't make things better while he pulled out the scariest sword ever: its silver metal had a disturbingly dark glow despite the morning's bright light, the grip was darker than death itself, and the cross-guard looked like twisted bat wing membranes trying to form a spiderweb. Fitzgerald held the sword in his right hand while the left one was tapping its claws onto the blade, causing tapping sounds that sounded like glass shards hitting against one another.

"I'm sure you can imagine what I'm thinking right now," Fitzgerald told Killian. The latter had a hard time looking at the Batrishan's red irises full of spite and bloodlust as they looked like they were enjoying the idea of shedding more blood.

"Well I'm hoping that you aren't thinking about ways to shed more unnecessary blood," Killian said flatly. Fitzgerald scowled at him.

"On the contrary, codfish." His voice darkened. "After what you did to those I care? Honestly, shedding your blood is necessary. Um, now that I think about it, I believe I know the best way to get even: killing you the same way you did with them. Impalement."

He then aimed at the pirate, but before Killian could even pull out his own sword, another blade came in and prevented the Batrishan's sword from impaling Killian. All eyes turned to see Milah holding her sword in defense between Killian and Fitzgerald.

"You...will not...kill him!" Milah hissed.

"Mind your own business," the Batrishan retorted. He kicked her in the stomach and sent her flying over a bunch of barrels.

"MILAH!" Killian shouted.

Fitzgerald took the opportunity to grab Killian by the shoulders and violently push him off the boat and into the port. Pain overwhelmed Killian as he roughly hit the stoned pavement and his eyes watched Fitzgerald flying off the _Black Pearl_ and landing onto the pavement.

"The crew is all yours to shangai, Jack!" he called out to the pirate captain on the ship. Jack nodded, and the next thing Killian knew, the _Black Pearl_ had lifted its anchor and begun to sail into the open waters, with the two pirate crews fighting for their lives. The two old friends were now alone, facing one another as enemies, with one of them being a Batrishan glaring at Killian with vengeful eyes and dragging his sword onto the pavement, making dangerous scratching noises.

"Fitzgerald, please..." Killian begged as he struggled to get up. The Batrishan cut him off by threatening his throat with the tip of his blade.

"I thought you should know this before I kill you," he said. "I've stopped being Fitzgerald Denada Cortés. Remember the nickname I was given on the battlefield?" He chuckled. "Fidget the Bat? Turns out that I embraced that name. Because it was the proof that everyone, including the friend I connected to the most, would only see me as something they were not: a monster."

"But if you keep doing savage things like what you did to my crew, then you _will_ be seen as a monster," Killian stammered. "Fitzgerald, don't do this to yourself!"

"Don't blame me!" Fidget shouted. "Blame yourself!" He raised his sword in the air, preparing to impale Killian...

" **GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!** "

Killian looked up and saw Milah in a fighting stance, her sword's blade covered with black liquid.

"Killian, are you alright?" Milah asked as she helped her lover get up.

"Milah? What did you..."

" **Gah! AAH!** "

The horrible screams got the pirates' attention. Killian's eyes widened in horror as he saw Fidget squirming on the pavement like a fish out of water, his hands painfully reaching for his right knee.

But Fidget didn't have a right knee anymore. As a matter of fact, he didn't have anything left of his right leg from the knee to the foot.

Milah had amputated the Batrishan.

"MILAH, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Killian exclaimed.

"I...I was..." she stammered.

" **YOU CODFISH!** " Fidget screamed at the top of his lungs. " **I'LL DECAPITATE YOU MYSELF IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO! I WON'T REST UNTIL I GET MY REVENGE ON YOU!** "

The furious sprung his wings open and flew off, his amputated leg leaving a trail of black blood behind him as he flew into the dark clouds that began to form a storm.


	20. The Quest For Darkness

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The Quest For Darkness

A rather ghastly memory, really. It had barely been two to four weeks since the codfish's blasted lover amputated his right leg and Fidget's peg leg was still killing him. The carpenter who managed to carve a peg leg out of enchanted pine for the Batrishan had warned the latter that it would take a while for the artificial limb to connect with the actual flesh and bone and eventually make one. While he was grateful to avoid relying on only one foot, Fidget's mind was still boiling with rage.

"A wing ripped by a codfish and now a leg amputated," he grumbled underneath his black cloak. The sky was dark and clouds covered the full moon as Fidget crossed the bricked road in order to reach the pub's door. Good thing that the local town had no resident going out at night; otherwise they'd mistake him for a creature of the devil going out to seek mischief.

Technically, it was half true: he did look scary with his Batrishan features, his wing brace, and his peg leg. And he was heading towards the Leaking Cauldron, the one area where mere humans were afraid to step in.

He pushed the old door open and stepped into the dark, shabby pub and inn, full of magic users and other unholy humanoids that Fidget would have never encountered back in Aldorada due to his old country's religion. No one seemed to notice or care that a figure bundled up in a black cloak and making odd stomping noises with his peg leg as it headed towards the bar. They probably thought that he was just another customer or traveler coming in for a drink.

True, Fidget would have never believed that he'd one day step into a pub full of witchcraft in order to seek certain answers for his quest to obtain revenge. But as they say, desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron," the barman said as Fidget sat at the bar. "My name is Tom. What can I serve you? Butterbeer? Pumpkin Juice? Firewhisky? Or perhaps Gillywater?" To answer Tom's question, Fidget tossed out of his cloak a small bag full of hundreds of golden coins onto the counter. The money's golden shine glimmered in the barman's eyes.

"Firewhisky and information on where I can find the Valley of A Thousand Whispers in exchange for all that money," Fidget said quietly. Tom said nothing at first. He briefly turned his back on the cloaked customer before giving the latter a mug full of firewhisky and taking the bag of coins.

"My cousin Darnell works in the Untold Secrets Archives underneath Flourish & Blotts, the local bookstore for wizards. Only in the Archives can anyone find mystical secrets, such as the place you seek, that are forbidden to the public's ears," Tom whispered to Fidget. "If you really wish to risk life in the prison of Azkaban, then you'll have to go to Diagon Alley during the witching hour and head straight to Flourish & Blotts. Darnell works there 7 days a week, so he'll be the only one left in the store. You'll know it's him when you see the complete whiteness in his eyes and he'll ask you what wind brings you here to Flourish & Blotts. If you tell him that it's the zephyr seeking desire banging on the glass of his windows. Darnell will instantly know you want to visit the Archives. He might ask you a price for it, though."

"I'll handle it," Fidget said through underneath his cloak. "How can I get to Diagon Alley?"

"We have a secret entrance in each of the Leaky Cauldron's restrooms in case human mobs ever attack us. You literally have to flush yourself into the handicapped toilet."

"It shouldn't be that horrible." The Batrishan took a large sip of his firewhisky as a toast to the quest that would eventually lead him to his revenge.

 _Around midnight_

"It was horrible," Fidget muttered to himself as he lifted himself up from the dirty street pavement. Honestly, he didn't believe that Tom meant it when he said that you needed to flush yourself into the handicapped toilet. Right after Fidget finished his hot firewhisky, he went to the pub's male restroom and sat on the handicapped toilet, which literally _sucked him_ once he pulled down the handle. After going through circles of toilet water pipes, Fidget had arrived in a silent Diagon Alley with his body soaked of the ghastly water he hoped to never bathe in ever again.

He eventually found Flourish & Blotts, a small shop with large windows revealing the inside's massive collection of books. It would have been hard to notice the small staircase and cash register with all those books covering nearly every inch of the store.

Fidget opened the door, releasing one of the doorbell's small rings. Now that he was inside, he could definetly smell the odor of old parchment, sandalwood, and polished wood.

He walked towards the cash register, where a chocolate-colored skin man dressed in a wizard's black robe and a white hat similar to a kufi.

"What wind brings you here to Flourish & Blotts?" he asked. He lifted his head towards the cloaked Batrishan and revealed his eyes...white and blank as marble. So that was Darnell, Tom's cousin. How the white barman ever managed to have a blind, black cousin was quite a question for Fidget's mind.

"It's the zephyr seeking desire banging on the glass of his windows," Fidget said. Darnell simply nodded and made a hand gesture, indicating Fidget to follow him, as he got up and led Fidget towards the next room of the store. They went through a maze of stacked books and tables until they stopped in front of a large mirror. At first, Fidget didn't understand why they were facing their reflections until he noticed Darnell pulling out a necklace with a pendant made out of a glass shard from underneath his collar. He bent down and placed the shard onto the mirror's bottom right corner, right where a mirror shard shaped exactly like the pendant was missing. Once the mirror and the pendant made contact, a humming noise similar to those coming from organs was heard, and the mirror's glass began to dissolve, revealing a dark passage with a staircase going downward.

"Crafty," Fidget commented. Darnell pulled out a wand, summoned a ball of light from it, and guided Fidget down the stairs while the glass reappeared behind them.

"Isn't it?" Darnell said proudly. "The Untold Secret Archives needs some serious security for protection. As you've probably been told, it's not an ordinary library with ordinary information meant for anyone. Why, Flourish & Blotts would be _ruined_ if our Ministry Of Magic ever discovered the Archives!" After walking down what seemed to be endless stairs, they eventually arrived on solid ground. With the wand's ball of light, they could see some books in large bookshelves that seemed to move...literally...in order to create changing maze patterns.

"How come the bookshelves are moving?" Fidget asked as Darnell cautiously guided him through the maze.

"For inner security. Should a thief be able to break through our mirror entrance, then he'll end up lost in this moving maze with no way out forever." They passed a few skeletons on the floor, thus indicating that there have been several attempts to rob from the library. One skeleton seemed to be tangled in some sort of yarn thread, which made Fidget guess that even Ariadne's thread couldn't beat the maze. "So, what kind of secret information do you seek?"

"I seek something that could help me find the Valley of A Thousand Whispers," Fidget answered.

Darnell chuckled in amusement. "You're searching for Bartok Ashiva Rex?"

"What makes you say that?" Fidget clung on to the sword hidden underneath his cloak...just in case he needed to pull it out.

"Bartok is the only person crazy enough to live there. The Batrishan spent so many centuries alive, watching life come and go peacefully or violently, and the one place he chose as both exile and sanctuary is a subtropical desert almost drier than the one of Agrabah itself and with wind blowing sounds barely louder than whispers." He stopped in front of an aisle of scrolls and pulled out a sandy yellow colored one.

"Fitting name for the valley." Fidget shrugged. "How long has he lived there?"

"Hard to say." Darnell unrolled the scroll and had a glance at it. "Last time I heard, he might have been there since 1431 after his friend Joan got burned at the stake. I think they might have been lovers." He shook it off and showed Fidget the scroll, which revealed a map of a desert hidden in a mountain range. "The Valley of A Thousand Whispers is hidden in these mountains in the South-Western Hemisphere. My advice would be that you follow the sunset in order to get there."

"At what price may I have the scroll?" Fidget asked. He began to look through his cloak for his other set of money until he felt his hood being pulled off and Darnell snatching a piece of the Batrishan's dark hair.

"OUCH!" Fidget yelped. "What was that for?"

"For paying your price," Darnell shrugged. He pulled out a vial from his robe and placed the hair in it, causing a violet aura to appear in it. "Batrishan hair is worth a lot of money in the black market these days."

"And you simply couldn't ask me to give you a piece of my hair?" Fidget hissed.

"What can I say? I'm a man of humor."

Fidget grumbled to himself, but said nothing. After all, both of them had obtained what they wanted. Darnell led Fidget out of the Untold Secrets Archives and back to Flourish & Blotts. The two shook hands and went their separate ways, with Darnell staying in the bookstore and Fidget making his way back to the Leaky Cauldron before eventually flying off to his quest.

Meanwhile, Darnell observed the violet aura that was moving and circulating the Batrishan's hair like mist above a bog within the vial. The wizard's hands could feel a powerful force coming from the vial as his skin touched the glass.

"That's quite an aura of dark magic," a voice commented. Darnell turned to see a dark-hearted man sitting near the counter, reading a book. "I must admit: for a Batrishan, it's unusually dark and...so powerful."

"Does he even know how to use it, Lord Zoso?" Darnell asked as he watched the Dark One shut the book and put it on the counter.

"Unfortunately no," Zoso sighed. "To think that such potential in darkness is lurking in him, waiting to wake up...Of course, he _does_ have darkness exposing itself currently. But it's not enough."

"Perhaps you can motivate him to succumb?" Darnell suggested as he handed the vial to the Dark One. The latter smirked as he watched the vial's aura.

"No. _He_ will be the one making his own darkness, a darkness much more powerful than the Dark One's. That is what the Fates' have assigned Fidget, or as they dubbed him, the Batrishan Prince Of Darkness."

"And Ashiva in all of this?"

"Ashiva is a patient one. He knows and tells Fidget's patron what he thinks is best for his descendant. Of course, the above has advised me to use this to locate an extra key that will unlock the door to the Batrishan's triumph." Zoso held the vial in the air when he said the word 'this'.

"And the extra key will be?" Darnell waited eagerly.

"A person that will aid the Batrishan in his lust for revenge leading to his soul consumed by power," Zoso cackled. "My future reincarnation. Rumplestiltskin."


	21. Bartok

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Bartok

 _About a month since Fidget's visit at Flourish & Blotts_

The Valley of A Thousand Whispers was having another one of its dreadfully hot temperatures. It was a miracle that the endless heat the sun emitted didn't kill any of the vegetation in the sole oasis that stood at the heart of the subtropical desert that was well hidden in a mountain range so dangerous that only the most daring nomads ever bothered to travel through.

Bartok Ashiva Rex grunted as he pulled the rope up from the well in his small green patch of a garden. Despite the straw hat he wore above his bat-like head, the former prince of the Batrishans felt like he was sweating all of the water he had within his body. The sweating only increased by the time he managed to grab hold of the bucket full of water and started bringing it inside the old Arabian house made of sedimentary stones. The albino Batrishan sighed once his body contacted the fresh air that the house contained like holy water.

"I got the water from the well, Jasmine," Bartok said. He placed the bucket on the table once he stepped inside the small kitchen. Jasmine, a young woman who was probably in her early twenties and dressed in a violet bedlah outfit due to the Valley's drastic temperature, was in the middle of pulling out recently baked khubz bread from the oven when Bartok said it.

"Did I get enough?" Bartok asked as Jasmine placed the bread on the table. The only answer he got was a quick kiss on the lips from her dark lips.

"It's perfect, my love. Lunch will be ready soon," she said. Jasmine gave him another kiss before going back to her cooking, making the Batrishan sigh happily until his ears perked up. The whispering winds blew a distant, yet approaching noise. The noise of a traveling caravan was the noise.

"I hear a caravan approaching," Batrishan said. Jasmine stopped in the middle of cooking the rice.

"It must be my father's caravan!" She said excitedly. Her hands grabbed Bartok's in excitement. "He must have learned about our engagement!"

Jasmine was the daughter of a leader of traveling merchants. Despite her father's wealth and the promises that a nomadic caravan offered when it came to seeing the world, Jasmine only wanted to settle down and start a life. About three years ago, their caravan got stranded in the Valley of A Thousand Whispers. With supplies, most importantly water, running out more quickly than the valley's winds from travelling away from the nearest town, the caravan got lucky enough to find a lonely oasis in the desolate valley, and its sole occupant, a hermit Batrishan named Bartok Ashiva Rex, the former prince of the Batrishans who abdicated his throne and obtained immortality in order to see what the world contained in open arms.

The Batrishan had been kind to them and offered them supplies and shelter. The merchants had been amazed by him, for they had heard the tales of the glorious Batrishan civilization and desired to witness their wonders. Unfortunately, they had also heard about the Batrishan Genocide and had pity towards Bartok: he lived since the Antiquity, had witnessed things he regretted seeing, set himself into exile, and was rather mourning over his people's certain extinction.

Before the caravan had left, Jasmine's father had asked Bartok how they could ever repay him. Bartok had denied wanting anything, claiming he had everything he needed in his small sanctuary. Then Jasmine stepped in and asked the possibility of the oasis having a new resident. It seemed tough at first: Jasmine might never see her people again and Bartok had had a bad history of companions, but she desired to settle down from the constant traveling, her father wanted her to be happy, and Bartok had to admit that at least _one_ companion in his small hermitic sanctuary wouldn't be of any harm.

So while the caravan left and came to visit once every year as promised, Jasmine stayed with Bartok in his house, helping him around with the chores and the farming, and as time flew slowly, their growing friendship had turned into eventual romance until Bartok finally had the guts to propose to Jasmine, who accepted happily. After sending a falcon message to her father, asking for his blessing and coming as soon as possible to the Valley of A Thousand Whispers.

 _Half an hour later_

The caravan had settled down at the oasis. While the troop was busy setting up their tents, Bartok and Jasmine went to reunite with her father Hamed.

"I thank Allah for this wonderful day!" He said tearfully as he gave the couple a giant group hug. "You two will be very happy together! I'm sure we have plenty of supplies necessary for a wedding ceremony!"

"We just want a simple wedding, Papa..." Jasmine said calmly, but her excited father cut her off.

"At least one tiny grand thing?" He nearly pleaded. "It's not everyday that you're only daughter gets married and I only see you once a year!"

"Okay, fine!" Jasmine sighed in exasperation. Hamed gave out an unmanly squeal of delight.

"Traveling all the way here wasn't too tough this time?" Bartok asked his future father-in-law. "We've heard from the few other occasional travelers that the Ogre Wars were raging in the Enchanted Forest."

"Oh dear, please don't tell me that you ran low on customers?" Jasmine came back with some homemade wine and began pouring it into cups that were eventually passed around.

"No, no, my child, business didn't slow down," Hamed assured his daughter as he drank some wine. "You'd be surprised, but many soldiers tend to buy nomadic talismans for good luck..."

"Did you also hear? Now they began drafting children in the wars!" another merchant said. Bartok and Jasmine gasped while some other nearby merchants made agreeing noises.

"Quite true," Hamed said solemnly. "They began drafting children by the age of 14 into the wars. Our caravan was passing by a town when the strangest thing happened: one man managed to put an end to the wars. He saved the children and his own son from fighting on the battlefield and ended the wars."

"Who was this savior?" Jasmine asked.

"The Dark One...ironically."

Bartok spit the wine out of his mouth. Everyone stared at him in confusion while he tried to avoid choking. The albino Batrishan was somewhat familiar with the Dark One. Matter of fact, since he was as ancient as the Antiquity, Bartok was actually rather familiar enough to know all the Dark Ones that ever existed from the first one, Nimue, to the current one, Zoso. He had known at least _one_ or even _two_ at every era.

"Since when does Zoso take interest in aiding children during wars?" he asked.

"Oh it's not Zoso anymore," one of the female merchants said. "It's a new Dark One. They say his name is Rumplestiltskin."

"He has a son...Baelfire they say," another merchant joined in. "They say Rumplestiltskin stole the power of the former Dark One and used it to save his son and the other children. Rather strange, isn't it? A former village spinster sacrificing his humanity into darkness to do a heroic deed."

 _Jolly_ , Bartok grumbled mentally. There goes another human crazy enough to succumb into darkness. He had had encounters with Dark Ones and each one kept telling him on how everytime there's a new Dark One, the darkness inhabiting the host had to then figure out who would become the next potential host, which usually meant puppeteering the unsuspecting host as he or she pursued the Dark One's malevolent career. Bartok was willing to bet that Zoso had 'planned' for Rumplestiltskin to become his next host; the Batrishan personally wished to not get involved with any sorcerer as bad as the Dark One.

"Ogre Wars and new Dark One aside, how was the trip here?" Jasmine asked. Before anyone could say anything, a loud noise was heard.

"Water...anyone have water?" What appeared to be a beggar got out of one of the tents. He was wearing a black-and-purple ragged medieval cloak that covered every single inch of him. His hood hid most of his head, but you could still see his dark-skinned face and notice that he was wearing a black blindfold over his eyes, thus indicating that he was blind. His gloved hands held onto a wooden cane that he moved ahead of him in order to feel where he was going. When you looked down at his oversized pants, you could faintly notice the peg leg hiding underneath the pants' right leg.

"Oh you poor thing!" Jasmine said as she helped the blind beggar sit down in a comfortable position on the rare green grass that grew in the oasis.

"We also ran into this beggar while we were on our way," Hamed added. "Can you believe society these days? Leaving poor people like him out on the street, covered in rags and with nothing but the leftovers of abandoned burned bread?"

"How sad," Jasmine said in a pitiful voice. The beggar was drinking the cup of wine she gave him in a rather slow motion. It seemed like you couldn't even hear the gulps he made as the liquid went down his throat. "I just made some khubz bread before the caravan arrived. Perhaps I should go get some for those who are interested."

Jasmine went back inside the house.

"Charming bride-to-be that child is," the beggar told Hamed. "Whoever she is to marry will most likely be the luckiest man on earth."

"Actually, the luckiest _Batrishan_ ," Hamed corrected. He pulled Bartok closer to him so that the two men stood in front of the beggar. "My dear Jasmine will be marrying the last Batrishan to walk the Earth!"

"Uh, Hamed..." Bartok began.

"A Batrishan?" the beggar tilted his hooded head. "How can it be? My eyes may be blind, but I could have sworn that there are no other Batrishans in the world."

"True, but Bartok here has lived since the Antiquity," Hamed continued.

"Bartok Ashiva Rex? The former prince?" the beggar sounded surprised. "The one who gave up his throne after going after an elixir that helped him abandon his royal duties?"

"The one and only." Hamed kept bragging proudly, not paying attention to what the beggar had just said.

"Wait a minute." Everyone turned to see Jasmine, who just came out of the house. Her hands were clutching the tray full of cooked bread that she just made while her face was growing with suspicion. "How on Earth do you know about the Elixir of Nine Lives? Bartok has never told anyone else but me about it and I vowed never to spread a word to anyone in the caravan..."

A scream, followed by several others, cut her off. Next thing she and Bartok knew, all the members of the caravan began to fall on the ground, clutching their stomachs and screaming in pain. Hamed fell into Bartok's arms.

"Papa!" Jasmine cried. She rushed towards her father.

"What did you do to them?" Bartok got up in order to confront the beggar. He stopped in his feet when he sensed a powerful flow of energy that reawakened a force he had taken in his youth. Somehow, the last four sips of the Elixir of Nine Lives he had refused to take were present...and agitating the five sips Bartok himself had taken.

"You drank the remaining four sips of the Elixir of Nine Lives," Bartok gasped. "Who the Hell are you?"

The beggar gave a smug grin as he got up on his feet and used only one hand gesture to completely get rid of the rags that completely covered him, revealing to be a person no older and no younger than seventeen years of age in a black-and-purple uniform that Bartok instantly recognized as the one that Aldoradian military officials wore. The only difference was that the young person had modified the uniform into a semi-armor like appearance, his skin was darker than night itself, his fingers were slightly clawed, his dark hair flowed down to his waist, his peg leg was real, and his eyes were yellow with crimson red irises that could have been from the eyes of a demon. But the most outstanding traits were the bat ears and wings (the right wing being half-mechanical) that his body also included.

It felt like looking in a dark reflection of Fidget.

"That...that can't be!" Bartok stammered at the sight of the Batrishan.

"What? I'm just from your species, no big deal," the dark Batrishan rolled his eyes.

" _Excuse me_? It's almost been 22 years since the Batrishan genocide, I've heard nothing from any Nomadic Batrishan or survivor, and you're here? And you drank from the remains of the Elixir?" Bartok then spotted something golden shining from the sunrays. Bartok grabbed what turned out to be a pure golden Batrishan medallion from the dark Batrishan's collar. "And you're a Batrishan priest's child? Just who the hell are you?"

"Let's just say my most common name is Fidget the Bat." Fidget slapped Bartok's hand away from the medallion and tucked the jewel back underneath his shirt. "Look, I don't have all day, so I'll make it quick: give me the formula for the Elixir of Nine Lives and I'll give you the antidote for the poison that I put on the merchants." He pulled out a black vial from his pocket and showed it to Bartok.

"Never!" Bartok growled. "I made the mistake to pay the price of that elixir even from taking five sip! Nobody must ever get his or her hands on the formula! I know you took the last four sips, so take my advice and don't repeat my mistakes! Now give me the vial!" Bartok aimed for the vial, but Fidget dodged his attack and started walking towards the well in the oasis.

"Let's be honest, you don't really have a choice," he told Bartok. "I mean, would you rather let your bride-to-be's family die before the marriage even started in order to protect one formula? Oh well, I guess I'll just go ahead and dump the vial into the well..."

" **NO!** " Bartok exclaimed in defeat. "Alright, I'll give you the formula..."

"Bartok, no!" Hamed coughed out blood from his mouth. "He fooled all of us with his beggar masquerade! Don't let him fool you too!" He kept coughing in Jasmine's arms.

"I swear on the River Styx that I'll give you the vial if you give me the formula," Fidget added extra pressure, for no one could break a deal done by the River Styx.

Bartok gave in. Fidget tossed the vial to Jasmine, who instantly began pouring some of the antidote in her father's mouth, and twenty minutes later, after she finished the vial from giving the antidote to the rest of the merchants, Bartok had reluctantly and honestly given the sole handwritten copy he had to Fidget. The dark Batrishan was much more clever than Bartok had anticipated: knowing that the albino Batrishan didn't want anybody to get their hands on the Elixir, he managed to lock up all the ingredients that were needed in his basement. Bartok watched regretfully as Fidget gave the final touches to the Elixir and burned the empty ingredient containers, creating a bonfire in the oasis.

"All I need now are the souls of heartlessly slaughtered innocents," Fidget said gleefully as he held a cup full of nearly completed Elixir.

"You know you're insane, right?" Bartok said. "You're willing to drink the five sips you need in order to get eternal immortality that will only guarantee you a lifetime of misery."

"On the contrary. _You_ spent your entire life wasting time on exploring trivial things; I, on the other hand, have a bigger ambition."

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!** "

" **PAPAAAAAA! NOOOOOO!** "

"Jasmine! Hamed!" Bartok rushed to his fiancée, who was holding her now-deceased father in her arms. "It can't be!" Bartok flew to examine the rest of the merchants, who were all lying dead on the ground. "The antidote should have..." They noticed a green glow, and when they turned their heads, they saw Fidget finishing to drink his cup full of now green-glowing elixir. The couple watched in horror as he threw away the empty cup and licked his lips with greed.

"You killed my father!" Jasmine exclaimed in anger. "My entire family! How could you?"

"Fidget! We had a deal! You were supposed to give them the antidote..." Bartok shouted.

"Correction!" Fidget held his finger up. "I swore I'd give you _the vial_ , not the antidote. Good thing that Zoso the Dark One gave me that magical poison of his and a tip involving a caravan heading to the Valley of A Thousand Whispers in exchange for giving a certain Duke some 'professional military advice' and start drafting children in the Ogre Wars. Bet you didn't know I used to be a Navy Sergeant back in Aldorada."

"So you helped Zoso achieve his scheme to get a new host for the Dark One!" Bartok was boiling in anger. "You nearly got a thousand children killed just to help Zoso ensure that Rumplestiltskin would become the next Dark One!"

"But if the vial had the magical poison, then why was my family acting ill before then?" Jasmine asked.

"Eh, I just put a few tummy-aching herbs in their soups on the way here," Fidget shrugged. "It was nothing. Oh, and one more thing." Faster than a blink, he threw a sword with an odd bat-wing designed cross-guard at Jasmine. A fatal scream came out of her mouth as the blade pierced through her midriff.

"Jasmine!" Bartok cried as Jasmine struggled to breathe once he removed the blade from her. "Why are you doing this? She did nothing to you!"

"You're sparing yourself from paying the price of the elixir," Fidget said as he picked up his sword and used a handkerchief to clean the blade. "Losing the sole people I loved made me go on this task to finish the Elixir of Nine Lives. I don't have anybody to love, so I don't have to pay the price." He then glared at Bartok. "Plus, it's not fair. Why should you get to marry your love and live happily while mine got impaled barely a bit after our _own_ engagement, which eventually led to my world crushing physically and mentally and for me to desire nothing more than to get revenge on the one who started everything?"

"Look, I know you're just as stabbed as I am about the Batrishan Genocide..."

"BAH! What could I possibly care about my origins? My birth parents ditched me, a goddess placed me in front of a human chapel, my foster parents were nobles, my kingdom was great, my love was a princess, the one who destroyed everything used to be the best friend I could ever truly connect with, and now look at me! I'm a wreck! I've got artificial limbs! You think I got my life ruined by an event I don't even recall? Really, your mind is way down in history!" Fidget scoffed before taking off. Bartok watched as the handicapped, yet rather capable dark Batrishan flew into the horizon until his mere silhouette disappeared.

"Jasmine...this is all my fault..." He whimpered over his dying love.

"Bartok, I...I'm happy to have loved you during this life," Jasmine quietly said. "I'll still love you in another life..."

The young woman eventually died in the former prince's arms. The latter broke into endless sobs and eventually gave the corpse a heartbroken kiss before proceeding to the burial of his would-have-been family-in-law, wishing to never again encounter Fidget the Bat.


	22. Dracula's Demands

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Dracula's Demands

 _Year 1857, in the Land Without Magic_

Fidget the Bat was now a hundred years old. He had been alive for a century now and still remained in his physical teenager self. And what was he doing to celebrate his 100th birthday?

He managed to obtain rare magic beans that could open portals in order to go and come back from the Land Without Magic with his new traveling mate Iago.

What was the Batrishan doing in a place like the Land Without Magic, where the realm's locals weren't as accepting towards magic as those as the Enchanted Forest? The answer was simple: after so many years of further research, blackmail, and other villainous acts in order to get closer to his goal of revenge on the codfish, he managed to gain the location of a demonic force that could grant him the access to invincibility. But that force was currently residing in the Land Without Magic in the most desolate and unwelcoming area in the most magic-rooted region in Europe since the dark days of the universe's creation.

The Broken Tooth Mountain of Transylvania.

"We should reach it anytime soon," Iago said. He and Fidget were covered in dirty brown cloaks and riding on the backs of mud colored horses. It would have been much faster for the two of them to fly all the way to the Broken Tooth Mountain, but with the...hostile welcoming traditions of the local humans towards non-humans like Fidget and Iago, wasting a week by traveling to the destination via horseback riding and disguising as human pilgrims towards a mountain that was said to be occupied by the Devil himself.

"Good," Fidget said quietly. They just had to go through a presumably haunted forest that served as some sort of perimeter around the Broken Tooth Mountain. With the night falling upon them, the forest was beginning to increase in its eerie atmosphere. Shadows from trees filled the ground and took the shape of dark ghosts slithering on the roots. Spiderwebs were shining from the moonlight with twisted silver silks.

"He really knows where to locate himself," Iago commented. The horses neighed in protests as they got deeper in the woods and closer to the mountain. Iago took note of their behavior. "Blast those beasts! They can tell we're heading straight towards his lair!"

"They'll have to keep moving if they don't want to convince me to give them to him as tribute!" The Batrishan snapped, causing his horse and Iago's to dash through the forest until they reached the rocky bottom of the fog-shrouded mountain. Obviously, they would rather die than become the dinner of the local's dinner.

Fidget and Iago got off their horses and looked upward at the Broken Tooth Mountain as it rose in the air and kissed the dark Romanian clouds. "So. This is where he resides," Fidget said.

"All the way up there, in the highest cave," Iago confirmed. "Do you want me to come with you in case he goes...violent?"

"No, my friend." Fidget patted the shoulder of his traveling companion. "I don't want to risk having you around in case he goes...as predatorial as the legends say. I'll fly on my own from here. Why don't you tend the horses and watch out for any passing human?"

"I can do that." Iago nodded. "Good luck."

Fidget returned the nod and spread his wings open. He could feel Iago watching him as he flew higher into the air until the fog eventually covered the mainland. A normal human would have probably taken nearly four hours to climb all the way up the mountain in order to reach the flat rocky area that led to the cave, but for a flying demon like Fidget, it only took him like eight minutes.

He reached the rocky platform and found the cave's entrance, which was held up by two columns that looked rather clean and perfectly solid...in a dark way. As Fidget walked into the cave, he passed through a corridor of flat walls that were decorated with carvings of bats, moonrises, and mobs chasing vampires. The Batrishan frowned at the setting as he got into the heart of the cave, which looked more like the sides were carved to make it look like perfect rectangles were rising from the ground and ceiling as more geometrical versions of stalagmites and stalactites. Every stone was well-polished and reflected Fidget's dark appearance at every inch of the cave as if shadows were watching over him.

"Well, well, well," a voice said quietly. "I've heard the legends and rumors, but never in my undead years did I ever expect to actually meet you."

A normal person would have looked around to see where the voice came from. Such a normal act would have been useless, since the cave's sole resident did not have a very visible reflection. But Fidget didn't have to do anything: he knew his host wasn't normal, so turning his head around or calling out 'Who's there?' would have been useless.

In less than a blink, blue mist appeared in front of him and spiraled upward until it revealed a tall man dressed entirely in black from his gentleman suit and tie to his cloak. His hair was groomed towards the back, his skin was pale enough for people to notice that there was no blood inside him to redden his cheeks, his eyes were blue, and his mouth had fangs.

Fidget frowned in confusion. " _You_ 're Count Dracula? You...don't look like what I expected. I thought I was dealing with some sort of withering ghoul."

"Humans," Dracula scoffed in his Transylvanian accent. "They think they know everything! Drinking blood, bah! Their blood is so fatty and you don't know where it's been. I prefer going with blood substitutes."

"I see," Fidget replied. "Any who, Count Dracula..."

"Call me Drac," the vampire said. "Most of my friends do. And I believe that you are commonly known as Fidget the Bat even though you are also feared as the Batrishan Prince of Darkness."

Over the passing decades, the dark Batrishan had managed to get quite a reputation for the 'minor evil deeds' (as he visualized them in his head) during his quest for revenge. People feared the last Batrishan (with most people unaware of Bartok's existence, Fidget was the designated sole survivor of the genocide), who has shown so far to be the cruelest that ever existed, for he lacked the altruism, benevolence, and wise righteousness that his people once had. Raised by humans prevented him from being taught the Batrishan ways and the backstabbing events of his life that drove him in the pursuit of revenge have made him do unimaginable things like murder, trickery, and other miseries. As his patroness and the Fates predicted, he became a terror known as the 'Batrishan Prince of Darkness'.

"So, what may I do to honor the presence of such a celebrity?" the vampire asked the Batrishan.

"There's a human who has destroyed everything I hold dear," Fidget explained. The tone of his voice indicated lots of anger in it. "I want him to pay _severely_ for what he did to me. But my exposure to immortality is not enough to help me get rid of that codfish; he keeps slipping out of my fingers like a coward. I heard about your knowledge about the greatest power in the universe, Drac. Only you know the sister power of eternal immortality: eternal _invincibility_."

Dracula rubbed his chin in thought. "Are you certain you want such power?"

"On the grave of my cherished foster mother? Yes."

"Careful," Drac warned. "Do not misunderstand me, but I admire your desire to get revenge on someone from that ghastly human race. But eternal invincibility is not like eternal immortality."

"What's the difference?" Fidget frowned.

"Both of them are potions that will consume your very soul. But while eternal immortality can come through ingredients found in the wild and a witch's shop, the potion for eternal invincibility can only be created by the successful results of five deals done with five immortals."

"Excuse me?" Fidget nearly choked.

"You heard me." Dracula waved his hands in a circular motion, creating a small storm of blue clouds to form within the cave. While the cave darkened, the cloud brightened and showed a series of red apparitions while Dracula's voice deepened and his eyes glowed with red.

" **Five scrolls for five contracts**." Five scrolls burning in red flames floated in midair. " **A burning pentagram born from the five pacts**." The scroll apparitions took positions in the air and formed a perfect pentagram, symbol of witchcraft. Fidget watched in awe as a black humanoid figure floated towards the five-pointed stars and stopped once it reached the center. " **A pathway towards great power and the downfall of kindness' willpower**." Soon, the apparition's humanoid silhouette was engulfed by the pentagram's burning branches, causing the blue cloud to explode and the humanoid apparition to increase in size until it was larger than Fidget and Dracula and surrounded by a dark aura that sent waves of power through their bones.

Dracula snapped his fingers and made all the grand showcases disappear, returning the cave back to normal. "So it's simple, really," he said in his normal voice. "Bring me back your five deals with immortals and I will cast the spell that will grant you the invincibility that you desire."

"You make it sound so easy," Fidget mumbled.

 _Later_

"...And then he said: 'Well that's what immortality is for!'" Fidget told Iago as they rode away from the Broken Tooth Mountain to the location they were planning to use as a departure point back to the Enchanted Forest.

"So it can be _any_ immortal?" Iago asked.

"That's what he implied." Fidget shrugged. "I have an idea of who to start with first."

"Really? Who?"

"My patroness. Kaïra Lokisia, the goddess of the in-between deaths," the dark Batrishan declared. "It's worth a shot. I mean, I do _owe_ her for blessing me with a foster family when my own biological parents abandoned me when I was an infant."

"So you're just gonna go to her kingdom in the Between Underworld of the Aesir and say: ' _Hi boss! Remember that debt I owed you? Well I want to use it in order to gain invincibility!_ '" Iago looked rather deadpanned. "That will work."

"I can always try." Fidget tried to sound optimistic. "Otherwise, what would you suggest?"

"If I were as desperate as you? I'd try making a deal with the Dark One, Rumplestiltskin. With his hobby on making deals for the near-century or so, you probably won't have to suffer from his prices since you don't love nothing anymore."

"You might be right," Fidget considered the notion. "I'll check on the Dark One after I check my patroness."


	23. The Hunt For The Pacts

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The Hunt For The Pacts

 _How Fidget got his first contract from his patroness_

" _You do realize this is by far the most self-absorbed thing you've ever asked me, Fitzgerald?_ " Kaïra spoke to Fidget.

As he had planned with Iago after their visit to Dracula, Fidget went straight for the secret shrine of his patroness located in the Northern Mountains of a land named Norway, located in the Land Without Magic. The nuns who guarded the holy area led Fidget to the secret passage that granted passage to the kingdom of Kaïra Lokisia to only those who were chosen to be her servants. After traveling through a series of diamond caverns, valleys full of souls in line, waiting to be judged before the Norns determined where they should rest, and reaching the emerald castle where the queen of this underworld kingdom, he was now kneeling before Kaïra and telling her his wish of making a certain pact.

But Kaïra was not as convincing as one would think. " _I put all my godly efforts for seventeen years to ensure that you would live a life of glory in Aldorada, which you threw away because of one pirate, and now this?_ "

"Milady, please!" Fidget continued begging while facing the goddess that was sitting on a tall, emerald green throne designed like a wolf on the verge of pouncing. "I swear on the River Styx that I will do anything for you if you grant me this pact!"

Kaïra grimaced, her eyes briefly darting off to an altar where a large golden sickle spear was laying flat upon, protected by a green force field of magic. Laevateinn, Kaïra's sacred sickle spear. Whenever Fidget saw his mistress bearing the weapon in her hand, she unleashed an aura of power that even he himself couldn't describe, and it still confused him on why she would put away Laevateinn under a force field and grimace at her weapon of power as if she were given a black plague instead.

The goddess rubbed her chin and thought for a long time before giving Fidget her answer: " _I'll grant you a pact, Fitzgerald, but hear this: should your blood ever be united with my blood and be followed by death, then your soul will permanently belong to me and you will have to serve me in my castle for the rest of your afterlife until your soul grows old and weak and flows away like a pile of ash. Under this sole condition will I grant you the pact."_

A gulp, followed by a nod and a promise on the River Styx, was the only thing heard from the Batrishan in the throneroom. Hours later, he got out of the kingdom from the way he came from (the goddess had offered to magically teleport him back to the surface, but he politely declined), and joined Iago, who was waiting for him at the entrance of the sanctuary.

"So that's all she demanded in exchange for the contract?" Iago asked as they walked down the snowy mountain trail in order to reach the portal that they needed to use to go back to the Enchanted Forest.

"Don't be fooled, Iago." Fidget stared at the scroll contacting the legal pact in his hands. "'Should your blood ever be united with my blood and be followed by death'. It could mean that the only possible way for me to be her servant in the afterlife would be if..." He didn't dare to say the words.

"If what?" his friend insisted.

"If I had an affair with my mistress that resulted with a child and me eventually dying..."

"Hold the phone, my friend. You don't seriously think that your own _patroness,_ the goddess who keeps saying that she wished to have raised you as her own rather than act as the orphan delivery girl and godly guardian. Either she does that or she has a female descendant that she thinks you'll marry."

"Flashback, I can't fall in love because of the rules of the Elixir of Nine Lives," Fidget pointed out.

"Exactly! So whatever you do, _don't fall in love_ , and you won't have to worry about the pact's condition!"

Fidget smiled at the logic coming out of his friend's mouth. "So, did you manage to talk to the Dark One about me wanting to have an audience with him?" the Batrishan asked.

Iago slumped his shoulders. "The man's a psychic. Before I even said anything, he said that he already knew what you wanted and that you can only come see him after you've received your first three pacts."

"Gee, I help his predecessor Zoso into making Rumplestiltskin the Dark One and this is how the newbie treats me," Fidget grumbled. "Any ideas of where I can find two other immortals to make pacts with?"

"Well, let's see. I heard about this warlock named Chaucer..."

 _A year later_

Fidget had completed and received the second pact from Chaucer. The warlock, benevolent and kind as he presented himself, did have a rather off-normal request for Fidget to get closer to his goal of invincibility: torture his brother, the evil warlock Darwin, with a poison that would let him live but unable to cure his wounds. Nevertheless, it didn't give any trouble for the Batrishan to use his bare claws and teeth to maul the sorcerer physically and inject the poison in his veins, now giving Darwin the appearance of a half-mauled creep.

"Who else can I make a pact with before I go make one with the Dark One?" Fidget asked Iago while they spent the evening at an inn that barely had more than five customers. His friend pulled out and unrolled a scroll on the table in which he made a list.

"You could make a deal with Hyde from the Land Of Untold Stories, but I've heard from connections that he's not very reliable," he said. "I highly disrecommend Yono unless you want to turn into stone once somebody defeats you."

" _Hell_ no." Fidget took a sip from his rum mug. "What else is there?"

"Discord, but that spirit of chaos is not worth it. A deal with another god is off the list. Unless you want a face worse than death, go talk to You-Know-Who. Wait! I got one that could work!"

"Is that so?" Fidget put away his empty mug and set his ears so that he could listen to Iago.

"Nicolas Flamel. He's older than you by at least five or four centuries, but he used a particular stone to protect himself from death..."

 _So many years later_

The first pact was completed with Kaïra Lokisia, his patroness who wanted him to perhaps serve her in the afterlife.

The second pact was with Geoffrey Chaucer, an immortal warlock who wanted his brother to learn a lesson through Fidget.

And the third pact was done with Nicolas Flamel, who wanted Fidget to help him find a good location to protect his Philosopher's Stone.

Now the Batrishan was at the fourth pact, offered to him by Rumplestiltskin the Dark One himself. In exchange for a scroll confirming the pact, Fidget had to hunt down 100 villains and imprison them in Pandora's box. As he spent the next years of his life imprisoning evil in the enchanted box, Fidget and Iago had to depart from one another because the latter was needed elsewhere. Fidget shed tears: he might probably never see his friend again.

The hunting season was on for Fidget. He trapped the spirit Discord in the box, along with a trio of sirens, the evil god Xibalba, half of the Hun army, a crazy alicorn named Midnight Sparkle he had been forced to seduce back in order to get her to approach the box, the Yono, and so many more.

By the time the news of King Leopold remarrying to the young lady Regina reached everyone's ears throughout the Enchanted Forest, Fidget was searching for one more villain to seal in Pandora's Box and he was running out of ideas (to be honest, he wasn't even aware that a potential villain was growing within the young queen's soul). But he was running out if ideas.

Fortunately, one of the great things about the universal villainy community is that your evil deeds that bring the fear out of good also bring the respect and admiration from other villains. Fidget's reputation as the Batrishan Prince of Darkness that terrorized all common folk had made him quite a celebrity to villains, especially Bluebeard, the big dog of the Azul Mafia, one of the most notorious criminal undergrounds in the Enchanted Forest. Bluebeard and Fidget were good associates and friends and it was tradition for them to play cards in Bluebeard's castle every Sunday.

" _La reina de los corazones_ ," Bluebeard said as he placed a fitting card on the deck.

"The Queen of Hearts?" Fidget frowned as he stiffly accepted a wine cup from one of Bluebeard's female slaves. "I never heard of her."

"If you know the Evil Queen, _amigo_ , you know that her mother Cora is _la reina de los corazones_ ," Bluebeard continued. "Cora was the Dark One's pupil. Because of his teachings, she managed to go from a miller's daughter to the wife of a prince. But the _matrimonio real_ to the sixth in line and living a fancy life in a big estate wasn't enough for her, so she manipulated the life of her own _hija_ so that the girl would end up marrying the king. Even though Regina managed to push her mother away from her life, she still became our beloved Evil Queen."

"What did Regina do?"

"Oh, she pushed Cora into a magical _espejo_ that sent the old witch to Wonderland, where she gained power as _la reina de los corazones_."

"Huh. She must really enjoy playing cards to want to name herself as such." Fidget shuffled the cards.

"Or if she knew how to rip out hearts from bodies, which can give the wielder the power to control and kill the heart's original owner."

Fidget stopped shuffling. His eyes lifted up in curiosity. "Kill, you say?"

Bluebeard smirked. His hand made a tough squeeze. "A snake can kill with its coils, but you could kill with just _un apretón_ of the heart."

 _The next day, in Wonderland_

Thanks to the annual field trips the White Rabbit had to the Enchanted Forest, there were still many rabbit holes leading to Wonderland, and one of them was located by the fountain in Bluebeard's castle gardens. After gratefully thanking his friend, Fidget hopped into the hole and landed in the unusually bright colored world of Wonderland. Seeing the floating rocky islands in the sky nearly made Fidget wonder how mad this place was.

He walked and flew a couple miles (Wonderland was much smaller than the Enchanted Forest) until he found the Infinite Maze, owned by none other than the Queen of Hearts herself. But no sooner did he put his peg leg on the yellow stone grounds did he get the attention of the guards and their hounds. "I swear I won't harm anyone if you let me have an audience with Her Majesty," the Batrishan said politely. "That is all I want."

"All trespassers have to deal with her anyone, but since you ask so nicely..." One of the guards said before they ended up escorting him like a guest and not a prisoner to the outdoor courtyard where the Queen of Hearts sat on her outdoor throne surrounded by her courtsmen and her valet. She hid her face in a golden masquerade mask with a heart shaped hair design and used some sort of horn to silently communicate with her valet.

"Her Majesty wishes to know why a Batrishan, a species presumed extinct, has come to her court," the valet declared. Gasps were heard at the mention of Fidget's species while he walked forward and bowed to the Queen, since he had once bowed to Aldoradian royalty.

"Your Majesty, I am honored to have been granted this audience with you," Fidget said. "I have come all the way to ask you to teach me how to crush a heart with my own bare hands."

The courtsmen gasped at his request while some of the courtswomen fainted. Clearly none of them were unfamiliar with the queen's 'heartfull' tendencies. As for the Queen herself, she tilted her head a bit in interest.

"The Queen, flattered by your civilized politeness that obviously came from aristocracy, is wondering why a Batrishan, a species that is supposed to be altruistic and benevolent, would want to know such a dark talent," the valet continued.

"I wasn't raise by Batrishans but by humans," Fidget said coldly. "A coward has destroyed the life I had, so I will return him the favor. I drank the Elixir of Nine Lives in order to have eternal immortality and swore to never fall in love again in order to avoid such a weakness. I am currently on the verge of finally getting five pacts from five immortals that will grant me eternal invincibility so that I can crush my enemy. I have no good left in me."

The Queen of Hearts lifted herself up from her throne and put aside her mask, revealing a brown-haired, middle-aged woman who still looked healthy enough to live another fifty years.

"You've got potential, my boy, I can see that." She smiled at him with her red lips as she walked down towards him. She granted him the option to get up. "You and I both live under the motto that love is weakness. But power...is a strength to cherish, and your hunt for revenge is a refreshment to power. I can assure you that you will be getting those five pacts."

"Why thank...Wait, how do you know?" Fidget frowned. The Queen of Hearts chuckled and cupped her hand on his dark cheek.

"My boy, by ripping out my heart when I was younger, I have prolonged my life. As long as it's out of my body, I can't die. I'm immortal. Not only will I help you seal your fourth contract, I'll do the fifth one with you."

"A pact...with you?" Fidget asked in a mix of hope and confusion. "But what could her Greatness possibly want from me?"

"Five years of your life in which I'll teach you even more power than knowing how to crush hearts. My dear evil Batrishan, I will be teaching magic in exchange for the pact."


	24. The Queen of Hearts' Apprentice

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The Queen of Heart's Apprentice

"A five year apprenticeship under my tutelage is just what you need to obtain the power you desire," Cora said as she led Fidget inside her heart themed castle and gave him a tour.

"Um, Your Majesty?" Fidget asked politely. "It's not that I don't appreciate what you are offering me, believe me I do, but...how can you teach me magic when I don't even have any?"

Cora paused as they walked and arrived inside a fancy living room that had, for a center of attention, a couple of red velvet lounge chairs shaped like broken hearts surrounding a spinning wheel and a basket full of straw. She excused her guards and ordered a maid to bring in tea.

"Please, have a seat." Cora motioned him to sit down next to her on the nearest lounge chair. The Batrishan directly obeyed. "Such a well-mannered Batrishan you are...The Aldoradians have taught you well."

"I'm used to showing respect to my royals, Your Majesty," Fidget said quietly. "Unless, of course, they gave me reasons not to."

"And you are right." Cora nodded her head towards the spinning wheel. "Before I became the Queen of Hearts, before I married into royalty, and before I became an expert in magic, I was just a poor miller's daughter. I could have gone on and live such a life..." Her voice then became bitter. "Until a spoiled princess intentionally made me trip while I was delivering flour and claimed that I dirtied her shoes with flour on purpose. Clearly, the king of the land I lived in as a peasant preferred to believe a spoiled, rich, lying princess to the honest, poor peasant. _They made me bow in forgiveness._ "

She then pointed at the spinning wheel. "When Rumplestiltskin came to me when I needed to prove my spinning straw into gold powers to the royals, he taught me how to use magic. How to channel it through emotion rather than thought and how the most common emotional trigger is anger. Thanks to his advice, I used my anger on the royals and desire to make them bow before me to spark my powers."

Fidget stared at her as she pulled him upward and led him to the spinning wheel. "People can learn magic, Fitzgerald, if they can master their emotions." She gently pushed him down on the stool facing the spinning wheel and placed some straw for him to spin. "So, what makes you angry the most?"

Fidget sat there, silently spinning the straw into thread as he began to give his answer.

"I had a friend. A friend who seemed like he could understand my troubles more than those I already knew could. We were like best friends and yet we only met a few hours ago. Among some other militants from our respective countries' navies, we were chosen to go on a diplomatic mission to retrieve a peace artifact that would unite our countries. How excited I was to go on such a mission with my new friend, my foster father, and my royal diplomatic friends, one of them being my fiancée the princess."

Cora frowned in curiosity at the mention of his royal love. Fidget began to spin faster as he got angrier.

"But my friend's king wanted nothing of peace. He wanted his men to get rid of me because he was jealous of how a _monster_ born from an extinct nation could be such an advantage to a kingdom known for being wealthy and undefeatable at war. So a fight occurred between the opposing parties once we got to the location. But the worst part was when I saw my _friend_ pulling out his sword from the bodies of my parent and my love. Just like that, he backstabbed me and impaled those I cared for!"

He spun faster, making sparks fly as he got angrier. "My wings sprouted, but he got one of them crippled. Aldorada, my home, was destroyed when I returned from my own absence! And the codfish's lover, a woman he seduced away from her husband and son, slashed my leg so that she could _save him_! Now the only thing I desire the most in the universe is for his blood to shed by my foot and peg leg, his flesh splattered all over the Earth, and his heart crushed into dust in the middle of my palm!"

He stopped spinning when he heard a crash. He looked down and saw that instead of spinning straw into gold, he spun it into crystal thread that shattered all over the floor due to heavy weight.

"Quite original power you have there, Fitzgerald," Cora said as the maid finally came in with the tea. The Queen of Hearts ordered the servant to get rid of the crystals while the queen and her new apprentice sat back on the lounge chairs to enjoy their tea. "Just think of how you could use that magic to get what you wanted."

"The same way you forced the royals to bow before you?" Fidget asked quietly from his cup.

"And the same way I got even with the spoiled princess by poisoning her and by destroying her daughter's chances of ever becoming queen."

That sold the deal.

 _About a year or two later_

The Batrishan was moving his hands in circular motions as he used his dark magic to levitate the tiles from the courtyard and put them in a floating formation that formed a tile tower capable of taking you up on one of Wonderland's floating islands.

He then pressed his hands together. The tiles crushed against one another and the rumble began pouring back down until he held out his hands and froze the rock shower in midair. He snapped his fingers and made the tiles form into a statue of the codfish. The statue didn't last a minute thanks to the black fireball that Fidget shot at him.

Cora was watching Fidget improvise faster than any apprentice she had ever seen as she got to the destroyed courtyard and brought in a pony with her.

"Here is your next lesson, my dear apprentice." She got his attention and got him to approach the pony. "You will learn how to rip a heart out of a living being."

An excited blink flashed in his eyes. "What are the steps, Your Majesty?" he asked.

"The trick is that you have to use a hand you'd use more often and put your fingers in a mid-clutching pose. Most magic-wielders are right-handed and therefore use their right hands more often when it comes to casting magic and crushing hearts, but since you appear to be quite ambidextrous, we'll see which hand you are most comfortable with." She motioned Fidget to use the technique. The Batrishan didn't flinch even once as he thrust his right hand into the pony's chest and pulled out its heart, put it back in and took it out again, but this time with his left hand. Cora was rather stunned on how Fidget was so eager to learn how to rip out a heart at all. Through her magic she had seen how her daughter Regina was initially upset about Rumplestiltskin making her rip out a unicorn's heart, and back when Cora was tutoring Anastasia the Red Queen, the latter nearly fainted at the sight of a ripped heart.

But the Batrishan was so ruthless that he was willing to rip out a poor pony's heart out despite the creature making agonizing sounds at every pull. He was the kind of apprentice Cora wished to have had for a son.

"You can also make the heart's owner your own slave," she mentioned to the Batrishan. "Control the heart and you can control that being."

He grinned mercilessly at the pony. "Kneel," he said quietly as he held the heart next to his mouth. The pony whimpered as it struggled to bow on its small legs. "I SAID KNEEL!" he shouted, tightening his grip on the heart, forcing the pony to wail and fully bow before the Batrishan, who looked at it with disgust and crushed the poor heart in his hands. "That animal was worthless," he muttered as he blew away the heart ash from his hands.

"Not your education," Cora said approvingly. "You have improved very much, Fitzgerald."

He bowed before his mentor, who ordered her guards to feed the pony's dead body to the hounds.

 _Around the end of Fidget's 5 year apprenticeship_

Fidget walked his way through the corridor, groaning as he touched the bandage covering his right ear. Thanks to a mishap with the Cheshire cat, Fidget just got himself a notched ear.

He approached the doors of the dinning hall. Feeling too lazily to open them himself, he waved at them and used his magic to force them open. The doors swung open and led him to the castle's dining hall, where a feast worthy of a party of a hundred laid at the large table.

"Is her Majesty holding a royal event?" Fidget asked when he saw Cora sitting in her usual chair at the table. Her hand was resting on top of a nicely wrapped red box.

"In a way," Cora said. "You didn't forget what day it is today, have you?"

"Is...it the anniversary of when you killed Snow White's mother?" Good Lord, he hoped that it wasn't a pop quiz, because the last thing he wanted was the Queen of Hearts testing the efficacy of the Elixir of Nine Lives by ordering Fidget's decapitation.

"You mean you don't remember today is your birthday?" Cora arched an eyebrow.

The Batrishan rubbed his hands anxiously as he sat down on the seat next to Cora. Guilt began to fill him when he realized that, ever since the ruined mission on Discordia's Isle, he hadn't even bothered to celebrate his birthday (whether it was his actual date of birth or the day when he got adopted). But to see his mentor actually treating him on such a day...

"It's very touching of you, Your Highness," he tried to say politely as he tried to resist looking at the cake covered in lilac purple frosting.

"You've been such a wonderful student, Fitzgerald." Cora sliced the cake with an enchanted knife. "I've had and seen previous pupils and magic and none of them were as ambitious, motivated, and powerful as you are." She put a slice on a plate and handed it to Fidget, who politely accepted. "My own daughter Regina is still training with the Dark One and she's taking much longer time than you are."

"Maybe she didn't have a coach as great as you?" Fidget suggested.

"No, she's just awfully stubborn." Cora shook her head in disappointment as she talked about her daughter. She then moved on to Fidget. "You, Fitzgerald, are full of promises, which is why for both your birthday and as a small early good-bye gift, I'm giving you the option to choose between a present and a proposition." She put the red box in front of Fidget and made a hand gesture indicating him to open it. On the outside, he was stiffly opening his present, but on the inside, his mind was screaming images at him of warm memories of a two-year old Fitzgerald Denada Cortés running down the stairs to find the adults surprising him on his birthday and the young Batrishan would be slashing through the wrappers in excitement to see what kind of presents his father brought him back from his travels.

The opened box revealed a silver hand mirror with hearts and vine carvings on it. "A mirror?" Fidget frowned in confusion as he picked it up by the handle.

"It can show you whatever you wish to see or find if you ask it to," Cora explained. "But there might be times when the mirror cannot show you everything because the Fates won't allow it." Fidget smirked at his reflection when the mirror's functions were explained. "Now, about the proposition."

"Yes?" Fidget gently put down the mirror on the table and looked at the Queen of Hearts as she talked to him.

"Fitzgerald, your new powers show that you were meant for greatness," Cora said, "but why waste it on a pirate, who is now a worm compared to you, when you could do so much more? My own daughter has banished me here and destroyed her chances to form a dynasty. You, Fitzgerald," Cora pointed at his medallion, "are descended from Batrishan Priests. The chances that you're born from your people's hidden royalty are quite possible. Stay here and I could make you the crown prince of Wonderland. Your title of Batrishan Prince of Darkness would be pure legit."

Fidget blinked he shock at what the Queen was saying. She wanted to make him her heir despite the fact that the Batrishan wasn't even related to her.

"Your Majesty, while I am flattered by your proposition and grateful of your tutoring, I'm afraid I must decline it. My main priority in life is to get my revenge on the one who wronged me," Fidget said as he took the mirror.

Cora nodded in understanding. "Seeking revenge to correct an unjust act is noble, but it won't complete you." Her voice was very calm. "Suppose you **do** get your revenge, hum? Suppose you manage to get back at the pirate, crush his heart, watch his blood spill, and avenge your dead beloved ones. What will you do then, once your lifelong goal is achieved? Believe me, those you have craved vengeance for ages end up falling for something far more tempting and soul-consuming. That's what eventually took over me once I realized I wanted more than just get back at one puny king for humiliating me, the daughter of a miller. **Power** is what got to me. Mark my words, Fidget: if revenge doesn't consume you for the rest of your life, then hunger for power will."

He said nothing as she ate her slice. "Just remember that" was all she said afterwards.

 _Present break between Zadnji and Vjero_

"So then what happened, Papa?" Zadnji asked his father as they sat on the cold floor and watched their ancestor's statue. "What happened after our ancestor left Cora?"

"Well, he managed to seal the monstrous Tamatoa in Pandora's Box, which sealed his contract with Rumplestiltskin and put an end to his hunt for the five pacts," Vjero said. "He went back to Dracula's lair and gave him the five scrolls so that the vampire could use his spell to give our ancestor exactly what he wanted: eternal invincibility."

Crows were making noises outside the temple. A cold wind blew through the temple, threatening to blow off the torches.

"I feel bad that our ancestor became so evil," Zadnji said. He leaned his head on his father's chest. "It's not his fault that his destiny was full of crap."

Vjero chuckled at his son's cussing and was grateful that the mother wasn't around to hear this. "No indeed," Vjero agreed. "Most of the time fate is cruel to us but we can't change it, especially if the gods say so."

"What happened next to our ancestor?" Zadnji asked. "Please tell me now before we have to go back home."

"Glad you asked," Vjero said. He sat a little more upstraight. "Because this concluding part of the story is very essential. This part is about how our ancestor managed to find his way towards Storybrooke."


	25. How The Bat Got To Storybrooke

FIDGET, BATRISHAN PRINCE OF DARKNESS

How The Bat Got To Storybrooke

 _1998, Hopkins, Minnesota, in the Land Without Magic_

Fidget kept hiding in the canopy of one of the oak trees surrounding the lake in that shabby town known as Hopkins, Minnesota, and keeping his binoculars on the daughter of Maleficent as she managed to break into one of the empty rental houses with the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming.

More than a decade ago, just after he returned from his trip to get his eternal invincibility from Dracula (who had lately been building a monster hotel in a hidden area where his cave used to be), his Batrishan ears overheard the scared human citizens from almost every area in the Enchanted Forest, saying that the Evil Queen was planning to cast a dark curse that would expel everyone into a Land Without Magic where they would lose their old identities and memories and lose their happiness.

This was a problem for Fidget. He couldn't outrun a curse even if he teleported himself or tried to fly as fast as he could, which would be stupid. He couldn't get himself a magic bean to get himself out because they were scarce nor could he go to Neverland because of his bad experiences there. Evidently, he wasn't going to let the curse of Cora's daughter make him forget his revenge, so he had to find another solution.

Fortunately, the Apprentice who had given him the information concerning the Elixir of Nine Lives was sadly willing to give Fidget a ticket out of the Enchanted Forest and into the Land Without Magic, if in exchange, he kept an eye on the daughter of Maleficent, whom the Apprentice knew would be forced into the foreign world. Fidget swore on the River Styx to keep an eye on the child until it got its own offspring and was led by the old man to the kingdom of Andalasia, where the local king Edward and Queen Nancy gladly showed him the way towards their castle's magical well, which led straight to a man hole in New York City.

The Batrishan had been shocked to see such a city. Unlike those in the Enchanted Forest, almost everything was made of stone and metal, used advanced methods of living called technology, and much to Fidget's initial frustration, had no magic. Thankfully, Queen Nancy had given him the address of somebody she knew from New York: her ex-fiancé Robert Phillips, his daughter Morgan, and the girl's stepmother actually native from Andalasia, Giselle. The kind woman and her husband let Fidget stay in their apartment until the Batrishan managed to finally adapt to the world of technology and discover, thanks to Giselle, that despite the name, the Land Without Magic _did_ have magic, but you need to look a little more carefully. He spent two years in their home until he finally decided it was time for him to resume his promise to the Apprentice.

Which was a good thing for Mr. Phillips because he didn't like how his daughter was batting her eyes at the immortal not-exactly-seventeen humanoid bat who managed to ignore her moves on him.

Fidget then spent the next years spying on the daughter of Maleficent, named Lily Page by her foster parents. He morphed from simple bat forms at night to common people from night to day to observe Lily as he promised. She grew, from his perspective, into a brat who didn't seem to appreciate that some people bothered to adopt her when the odds seemed against her. This only reminded him of his own foster parents adopting him and his heart ached even more for their losses.

And now here he was, spying from a tree on the girl who had just run away from home due to some 'sappy tantrum of her parents not understanding her' while she was breaking into a rental house with the child destined to bring an end to the Dark Curse. Talk about ironic.

Fidget hopped off the tree, landing hard on his peg leg.

"Sir, what were you doing on that tree?" A passing park ranger asked him. Back in the Enchanted Forest, peasants would have run away at the sight of him, but here, due to the bare amount of magic this world had, normal humans couldn't see supernatural things as they were. So to the park ranger, Fidget looked just like an ordinary brown-haired American dressed in cargo pants, a black sweater, brown hiking boots, and a fitting backpack.

"I'm sorry," Fidget said in his best apologetic tone. "I'm a big fan of bird-watching and I couldn't resist climbing on one of those trees to get a better view of the flying birds. Personally, I find it fascinating whenever they fly above water."

"Glad to see you enjoy nature's fliers," the park ranger said in a serious, but smiling tone. "But unfortunately climbing trees are unauthorized here because they are part of the rental houses sector. I won't charge you this time because my late grandmother used to love bird-watching as well."

"Understood." Fidget put his binoculars in his bag and waved at the ranger before seemingly making his way out of the park and towards a nearby telephone booth. After inserting some coins in there, he dialed a certain number.

"Mr. Page?" He asked. "Hi, I wanted to inform you that I just saw a teenager resembling your daughter Lilith breaking inside a rental house nearby..."

 _More years later_

"Push, Lily! Push!"

Lily's father instantly brought her home, separating her from her now hurt friend Emma, and grounded her for months. While his wife was busy trying to talk to Lily about how much they were worried about her, Mr. Page was outside the front porch and giving Fidget the reward money.

"We can't thank you enough for locating our daughter," he said. "I still don't understand why she would run off like that when we try to make her as happy as possible."

"Foster children should be grateful that they have parents who bother taking care of them," Fidget said stiffly as he put his new five hundred dollars in his wallet. "I know from personal experience."

"You came from the system?" Mr. Page guessed.

"No, I was left behind. My foster parents adopted me when they found me outside in the rain. They were the best things that ever happened to me...Sadly, they are dead now."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Well, thank you again." The two shook hands and went their separate ways; Fidget going back to his hiding hole in order to keep spying while Mr. Page went back to scolding Lily.

Eventually, a year after that event, Lily got kicked out for good by them and was on the run again, only this time causing her old friend Emma some trouble that cost the latter both her foster family and any possible way of trusting anyone else. The Batrishan pitied them but didn't intervene for he could care less about their teenage issues. His job, in order to keep his promise to the Apprentice and get his ticket towards the codfish, was to keep an eye on Maleficent's daughter until she got her own offspring.

Finally, now that Lily was in her eighteen years, she had met a human named Raoul and the two had a romantic relationship, which led to the reason why Fidget was now hiding in an air vent at a hospital in Las Vegas and spying on Lily giving birth.

"Push, Lily! Push!" The young woman kept screaming until they ended at the sound of another scream: the scream of a newborn infant. Lily and Raoul cuddled together with their new baby daughter, making the Batrishan smile. Not because the scene was touching, but because he had completed his part of the deal.

 _Storybrooke, after the events of THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA and before those in A BAT IN STORYBROOKE_

"Talk about uncomfortable," Fidget muttered as he stretched himself. "But disguising myself as a speck of dust in that pathetic monster hotel was worth it."

In exchange for guarding an eye on Maleficent's daughter, the Apprentice had given him a foreshadowing tip on how to reach the place where he'd find the codfish. After some researching, he found the American Bigfoot, an underground monster going to the still hidden Hotel Transylvania, and followed the creature overseas until they arrived at Hotel Transylvania, Dracula's new living area, where Fidget hid in the shadows in the appearance of a normal bat. Then, as predicted, the codfish and his new love interest where opening a time traveling portal to go back home, which gave Fidget the opportunity to disguise himself as a speck of dust that stuck on the pirate's jacket and traveled with them to the future, where he floated himself away from them and morphed back into his usual self.

"Now to get my revenge on the codfish." He walked towards one of the hills until he got a good view of the entire town of Storybrooke at night. The town seemed so peaceful, unaware of the presence of a new enemy. The moon shone on him as he picked up the scent of his foe.

"There won't be anymore escaping this time, codfish," he growled as his fist tightened and his fanged teeth gritted. "This time, I _will_ kill you for good. I swear, codfish, you _will_ die in my hands. In the hands of Fidget the Bat."

 _Back to the apocalyptic future with Vjero and Zadnji_

"Poor ancestor," Zadnji said sadly as his father finished the tale. "And poor Killian. Their friendship would never last."

"Indeed." Vjero helped his son get up as they prepared to leave the shrine. "But some people just can't control fate. As much as our ancestor did have goodness in him, the powers from above led him to a dark path..."

"And everything that happened in Storybrooke because of him." Zadnji looked up at the statue of Fidget the Bat. "I hope you can finally find peace, great ancestor," he told the statue genuinely.

A small wind came through the windows, making the two Batrishans shiver. For Vjero, it was one of those cold nose-giving flaws of nature, but for Zadnji, it was almost as if he could feel a ghostly presence shielding him from the cold and warming him in an invisible embrace.

"We'd better get going." Vjero led Zadnji out of the shrine and the two took of into the skies to go back, unaware that just behind them, the ghost of Fidget the Bat was standing at the doorway, nodding approvingly at his descendants flying off before going back inside his shrine and closing the door behind him.

THE END


End file.
